The exact number of people who have MDS is unknown, but about 10,300 new cases were reported in the U.S. in 2003. This number is the result of data collected by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This program only started collecting data in 2001. The number of people may be higher than reported because some doctors are still don’t know that they need to report MDS cases to a national registry. Some doctors believe there are as many as 12,000 to 15,000 new MDS cases a year.
People diagnosed with MDS are:
- More often men than women
- Most often age 60 or older; 72 is the average age of diagnosis
- Most often white (Caucasian)
Native Americans, African-Americans, Inuits, Asians, and Pacific Islanders are less likely to get MDS.