Life expectancy for people with Polycythemia Vera??

Answer 1

I bet Regularguy doesn't even understand what he copy/pasted

Polycythemia is an indolent disease with median survival of 11-15 years. The major cause of morbility and mortality is arterial thrombosis. over time polycythemia vera may convert to myelofibrosis or to chronic myelogenous leukemia. in aprox 5% of cases the disorder progresses to acute mylogenous leukemia, which is usually refractory to therapy

Answer 2

In the US: Primary polycythemia is rare, with an overall prevalence of PV of 2 cases per 100,000 people. The median age is 60 years. Only 0.1% of cases of PV are observed in people younger than 20 years. Fewer than 20 cases of pediatric PV are reported in the literature. Secondary polycythemia is seen in 1-5% of all newborns in the United States.
Internationally: Polycythemia vera has a similar incidence in Western Europe as in the United States, and occurrence rates are very low in Africa and Asia (as low as 2 cases per million per year in Japan).
Mortality/Morbidity: Death rates for children are unavailable. The complications found in polycythemia are related to 2 primary factors. The first includes complications related to hyperviscosity. The second relates to bone marrow–related complications. Untreated, the median survival time for these patients is 18 months. However, if patients are treated, survival is greatly extended, up to 10-15 years with phlebotomy alone. The causes of death in adults are as follows:

Thrombosis/thromboembolism (30-40%)
Acute myelogenous leukemia (19%)
Other malignancies (15%)


Hemorrhage (2-10%)


Myelofibrosis/myeloid metaplasia (4%)


Other (25%)
Race: In the United States, higher rates of PV are observed in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, and lower rates are seen in African Americans.

Sex: The male-to-female ratio is 1.2-2.2:1 in adults and 1:1 in children.

Age: The median age for PV is 60 years. Only 0.1% of polycythemia cases occur in people younger than 20 years.