Improved survival in multiple myeloma, with a diminishing racial gap and a widening socioeconomic status gap over three decades

Multiple myeloma (MM) is estimated to have 30,280 new cases and be associated with 12,590 deaths in 2017. However, quantitative analysis for survival, based on a large population, is lacking. Data were extracted from a total of 33,170 cases from nine registry sites in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. The current study shows that the incidence for MM remained relatively stable between 1981 and 2010, with 4.6, 4.7, and 4.7 per 100,000 persons in each decade. In addition, survival for MM improved each decade with a larger increment in the last two decades, with a narrowing survival gap among races and a widening gap among socioeconomic status (SES) groups. The survival gap changes in races and SES groups may guide clinicians to design better treatment protocols and call for the pressing need for health-care policy to fill the gap among SES groups.