Twenty-year trends in the reported incidence of mycosis fungoides and associated mortality.

OBJECTIVES: Patterns of mycosis fungoides incidence and associated mortality in the United States were evaluated.

METHODS: Data were taken from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry program and the National Center for Health Statistics.

RESULTS: The incidence rate from 1973 through 1992 was 0.36/10(5) person-years. The age-adjusted incidence rate ratio of Blacks to Whites was 1.7; that of Asians to Whites was 0.6. There was no evidence of increasing incidence rates during the period 1983 through 1992. Mortality rates declined steadily from 1979 to 1991 and were less heterogeneous geographically than incidence rates. Mortality rate patterns with age, sex, and race were similar to the corresponding incidence patterns.

CONCLUSIONS: The incidence rate of mycosis fungoides has stabilized and the mortality rate has declined. For unknown reasons, the disorder varies greatly among demographic and geographic subgroups.