Incidence and Prevalence of MPDs

Until recently data on the frequency of MPD’s diagnoses has been the subject of various estimates, but no reliable large scale studies had been done in the United States. Doctors and patients have wondered about the prevalence and incidence of MPDs. Prevalence and Incidence of MPDs refers to the total number of patients and number of patients diagnosed each year, respectively. 

To investigate this further and try to put an end to speculation, the MPD Foundation co-sponsored with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society a grant to assess the prevalence of MPDs. Dr. Xiaomei Ma of Yale University School of Medicine was the lead investigator on the study on prevalence of MPDs that was published in the American Journal of Hematology (1).  The study looked exclusively at the prevalence of the MPDs PV and ET, excluding Myelofibrosis.

According to this study on the prevalence of MPDs, there are 22 cases of PV and 24 cases of ET per 100,000.  The study says there is an estimated total of 65,243 patients with PV and 71,078 with ET in the United States in 2003, for a total of approximately 136,000 patients

The Yale study did not look at the prevalence of Myelofibrosis patients.  However, a study by the Mayo Clinic reported an incidence of 1.46 per 100,000 (2).  This rate of incidence translates to an estimated prevalence of 30,000 Myelofibrosis patients in the United States. 

1. Ma X, Vanasse G, Cartmel B, Wang Y, Selinger HA.  Prevalence of polycythemia vera and essential thrombocythemia.

2.  Mesa R, Silverstein M, Jacobson, Wollan P, Tefferi A.  Population-based incidence and survival figures in essential thrombocythemia and agnogenic myeloid metaplasia: an Olmsted county study, 1976-1995.