When it comes to leukemia in Georgia, the rate of new cases exceeds the national rate, according to recent data, and the annual number of cases in the state is rising.
Doctors can’t point to a cause to help them provide the average resident with a game plan to reduce the risk of getting leukemia. That’s because there’s no definitive science yet on what causes the blood cancer, also known as a hematologic malignancy.
“Most leukemias don't have an identifiable risk factor,” says Leslie Popplewell, M.D., medical director of Hematology and Blood and Marrow Transplant at City of Hope® Cancer Center Atlanta. The most important risk factors for the most common kind of acute leukemia, AML( acute myelogenous leukemia) is increasing age. There is also a small risk for AML as a secondary leukemia for patients who are treated with chemotherapy or radiation for other cancers (like breast cancer, lung cancer, and others).
Besides some pretty vague factors — older people are more likely to get leukemia than younger people, males more likely than females and smokers more likely than non-smokers — the American Cancer Society’s list of possible risk factors for various leukemias includes:
- Exposure to certain chemicals, such as benzene
- Treatment with certain chemotherapy drugs
- Exposure to radiation
- Certain blood disorders, including chronic myeloproliferative disorders
- Certain genetic disorders, including Fanconi anemia, Shwachman-Diamond syndrome and Li-Fraumeni syndrome
- A family history of leukemia
It’s important for people to see their doctors on a regular basis. Routine test results may be the first indicators that something is amiss.
“Typically, things like severe anemia, a very high or a very low white blood cell count, changes in platelet counts” are potential signs of leukemia, Dr. Popplewell says. “So, sometimes these things are caught when patients have blood work for other reasons. Other times they can present with severe fatigue and symptoms like that, and then the blood counts come back as suspicious.
“Usually, a bone marrow biopsy is required to make a diagnosis,” she says. “Occasionally, there are a lot of abnormal circulating cells with leukemia.”
This article will examine:
If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with cancer and are looking for a second opinion, call us 24/7 at 844-662-1190.
Georgia and Leukemia Risk
A state cancer profile released by the National Institutes of Health shows the most recent leukemia rate in Georgia is 14.4 invasive cases per 100,000 people annually between 2016 and 2020, slightly above the national rate of 13.9 cases per 100,000.
Overall, leukemia rates in Georgia have been ticking up in recent years, from about 11.5 cases per 100,000 in 2000 to about 15 cases per 100,000 in 2020.
Meanwhile, the death rate attributed to leukemia in Georgia was below the national average over the 2016-to-2020 time period, with 5.8 deaths per 100,000 in the state annually vs. 6 deaths per 100,000 nationally. The leukemia death rate in Georgia has been on the decline for at least the past 30 years.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Facts 2022-2023 reports there were an estimated 1,700 new cases of leukemia in Georgia in 2023 and an estimated 660 deaths.
The society also parsed the data to show, when known, a breakdown of leukemia cases and deaths by the type of leukemia. The data, using annual average statistics for 2015 to 2019 for leukemia cases and 2016 to 2020 for leukemia deaths, broke out the average annual data for Georgia as listed below.
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL): 559 cases and 97 deaths
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML): 457 cases and 260 deaths
Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML): 233 cases and 36 deaths
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): 151 cases and 37 deaths
Spotting the Signs of Leukemia
Many of the most common symptoms of leukemia may relate to a host of other medical conditions. As the number of symptoms identified grows, the possibility of a blood cancer grows.
“By the time they come to us, they've had some abnormal counts that are recognized as very suspicious,” Dr. Popplewell says. “I would say that usually these are patients who have gone to their primary care physician, who's ordered some lab work that came back suspicious and needs further work up, or where they've been to a local emergency room and have been told that they need to see a hematologist.”
Individuals with leukemia may experience symptoms of anemia, neutropenia or thrombocytopenia, which respectively refer to low red blood cell counts, a low number of neutrophils and a low platelet count, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Each type of leukemia may have its own combination of symptoms, but the society identifies the following symptoms as common among many of them:
- Fatigue
- Shortness of breath during normal activities
- Dizziness
- Pale complexion
- Frequent infections or fever
- Easy bruising
- Nosebleeds or bleeding gums
- Prolonged bleeding from minor cuts
- Night sweats
- Bone and joint pain or discomfort
- Wheezing, coughing or painful breathing
- Unexplained weight loss or loss of appetite
- The appearance of pinhead size red spots on the skin
- Enlarged spleen, liver or lymph nodes
- Feeling of fullness or pain below the ribs
- Heavier or more frequent menstrual periods
Atlanta Leukemia Treatment
If a recent blood test report has raised concerns, or can’t easily explain symptoms you’ve been experiencing, City of Hope Cancer Center Atlanta has doctors experienced with blood cancers who can help identify if you have leukemia or another type of blood cancer.
The hospital is part of the national City of Hope network, which has one of the largest and most successful bone marrow and blood stem cell transplant programs in the nation. City of Hope Atlanta currently offers autologous stem cell transplants, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy and has ongoing clinical trials of newer treatments for chronic leukemias, offering potentially helpful therapies that are still in the investigative stages.
“A hospital or a practice that treats a lot of leukemia needs to have the infrastructure to manage those patients. Their transfusion requirements can be significant,” Dr. Popplewell says. “They need infectious disease experts who are able to help diagnose and treat opportunistic infections. They need to be well versed in knowing which patients are eligible for transplantation.
“Unfortunately, because patients with acute leukemias can get very sick very quickly, you need a staff that's trained on how to how to assess things quickly and get them into treatment quickly.”
City of Hope Atlanta continues to build its ability to treat blood cancers, Dr. Popplewell says.
“Treatment of chronic leukemias is important, but the treatment is less time-sensitive. With CLL in particular, we may watch for a period of time and there are specific indications for starting treatment. We have oral regimens for treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia.”
City of Hope Atlanta can also manage patients with acute leukemia if they are not allogeneic [donor-matched] stem cell transplant candidates
If you or a loved one has recently been diagnosed with cancer and are looking for a second opinion, call us 24/7 at 844-662-1190.