Survival for myeloma

About these statistics

The terms 1 year survival and 5 year survival don't mean that you will only live for 1 or 5 years.

The NHS, other health organisations, and researchers collect information. They record what happens to people with cancer in the years after their diagnosis. 5 years is a common time point to measure survival. But some people live much longer than this.

5 year survival is the number of people who have not died from their cancer within 5 years after diagnosis.

Survival by stage

No UK-wide statistics are available for different stages of myeloma. Survival statistics are available for the 3 stages of myeloma in England. These figures are for people diagnosed with myeloma in England between 2016 and 2020. 

Stage 1

Almost 80 out of 100 people (almost 80%) will survive their myeloma for 5 years or more after diagnosis.

Stage 2

Around 60 out of 100 people (around 60%) will survive their myeloma for 5 years or more after diagnosis.

Stage 3

40 out of 100 people (40%) will survive their myeloma for 5 years or more after diagnosis.

Survival for all stages of myeloma

The UK survival statistics come from England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have a similar population and healthcare system. So we can apply these survival statistics to the whole of the UK.

Generally for adults with myeloma in the UK:

• 85 out of every 100 (85%) survive their cancer for 1 year or more

• more than 55 out of every 100 (more than 55%) survive their cancer for 5 years or more 

• almost 40 out of every 100 (almost 40%) survive their cancer for 10 years or more

What affects survival

Your prognosis depends on the stage of your myeloma when it is diagnosed. The stage tells your doctor how the myeloma is affecting you, and how it might develop. The doctors do blood, urine and bone marrow tests to find out what stage your myeloma is.

The doctors also look for particular gene changes (mutations). These are called cytogenetic tests. They describe the results as low or high risk cytogenetics. The results affect your stage and your prognosis.

Another important factor is your age and fitness, and the type of treatment you have. Doctors call how well you are your performance status. There are some very intensive treatments available for myeloma and to have them you need to be well enough to get through them. 

It is a good sign if your myeloma responds well to treatment and goes into complete remission. Remission means that there is no physical sign of your disease and no longer any abnormal immunoglobulin in your blood or urine. Remission can last for months or years, but unfortunately the myeloma is likely to come back eventually and will then need further treatment.

Myeloma can be variable in how it behaves. In some people, it develops very slowly and so the outlook will be better. It is best to discuss this with your own specialist. It may be a while before your doctors can say how your myeloma is likely to behave.

More statistics

For more information about survival and other statistics about myeloma, go to our Cancer Statistics section.