Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017) - Management of Patients With Hematologic Neoplasms Related

Review Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 14e (Hinkle 2017) - Management of Patients With Hematologic Neoplasms related questions and content

A 77-year-old male is admitted to a unit with a suspected diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). When planning this patients care, the nurse should be aware of what epidemiologic fact?

  • A. Early diagnosis is associated with good outcomes.
  • B. Five-year survival for older adults is approximately 50%.
  • C. Five-year survival for patients over 75 years old is less than 2%.
  • D. Survival rates are wholly dependent on the patients pre-illness level of health.
Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The 5-year survival rate for patients with AML who are 50 years of age or younger is 43%; it drops to 19% for those between 50 and 64 years, and drops to 1.6% for those older than 75 years. Early diagnosis is beneficial, but is nonetheless not associated with good outcomes or high survival rates. Pre-illness health is significant, but not the most important variable.