Nearly 7,300 people are diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the United States each year. This form of the disease differs from the others in two ways; it is not linked to radiation or benzene exposure and family history of the disease is associated with an increased risk.
First degree relatives of patients with CLL have a threefold greater likelihood of getting the disease than other people. The disease is very uncommon in people under 45 years of age. In fact, 95 percent of patients are over age 50 when they are diagnosed and the incidence of the disease increases dramatically thereafter.
CLL results from an acquired (not inherited) injury to the DNA of a single cell in the bone marrow. The outcome of this injury is the uncontrolled growth of lymphocytic cells in the marrow that leads to an increase in the number of lymphocytes in the blood.
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