Hodgkin's Disease

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Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Hodgkin’s Disease
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Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma vs. Hodgkin's Disease

Lymphoma is divided into two general categories: Hodgkin's disease (HD; also called Hodgkin's lymphoma) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). In the United States, there has been a general decline in HD rates over the past 30 years, and this disease now accounts for only 1% of all cancers. By contrast, rates of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have increased by more than 70% during this same period of time. NHL is the fifth most common type of cancer and accounts for about 4% of all cancers in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), there were approximately 66,000 new cases of NHL diagnosed in the United States in 2008 and about 19,000 people died from the disease.

The majority of NHL (95%) occur in adults 40 to 70 years of age; however, some NHL subtypes are among the most common cancers in children. More men than women develop NHL, and rates are particularly high among men who live in areas with epidemic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS) infection, such as the San Francisco/Oakland area. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is more common in Caucasians than in African Americans, Japanese Americans, or Chinese Americans.

Each year in the United States, approximately 8,000 new cases of Hodgkin's disease are diagnosed. Among these cases, about 60% of cases involve advanced stage disease and 40% involve early stage disease. Men typically have higher rates of Hodgkin's disease than women. This difference is particularly noticeable in children and among people older than 35 years of age.

Hodgkin's disease is more common in Caucasians than in African Americans or Asians. The disease affects people of all ages, although it is most common in young adults (ages 15–40) and older adults (older than 55 years of age). In women older than age 55, this age spread may be related to hormonal factors. Only about 10–15% of HD cases occur in children younger than 16 years of age. The disease is uncommon in children age 5 and under.

Table 1: Facts & Figures For HD versus NHL, 1987- 1991

	Hodgkin's Disease	Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
Number of cases	3,540	17,568
Age-adjusted incidence* in 1991	2.9 cases per100,000 person-years	15.1 cases per100,000 person-years
Age at diagnosis (median)	33 years	65 years
Disease distribution by age: < 20 yrs 20–34 yrs 35–44 yrs 45–54 yrs 55–64 yrs 65–74 yrs 75–84 yrs > 84 yrs	12.7% 40.3% 16.1% 8.2% 7.4% 8.3% 5.4% 1.5%	1.8% 7.1% 10.4% 11.7% 17.9% 25.7% 19.4% 6.0%

*Based upon findings from the National Cancer Institute's SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) program, 1987 to 1991.

*Number of new cases occurring within a population of 100,000 individuals (corrected for age) (Adapted from: Canellos G. P., Lister T. A., and Sklar J. L.: The Lymphomas. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Company, 1998).

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