Lymphoma Survey

The Lymphoma Coalition, an umbrella organization for a whole bunch of lymphoma research, support. and awareness organizations from around the world, just published the results of their 2012 survey of lymphoma patients.

The survey was taken by 1606 people from 51 countries, and the LC found three broad themes:

1) There is a general lack of understanding and awareness of the signs and symptoms of lymphoma. It's complex, and easily confused with other benign things, so both patients and doctors can misdiagnose, leading to a late diagnosis, and the complications that come with it.
 2) There is a lot of misunderstanding about clinical trials -- how they work, who should be interested in them, how they benefit all patients, and why they should be considered an effective option.
3) Quality of life for lymphoma patients isn't nearly as good as it could be.

Interestingly, when the LC did their last survey in 2010, #1 and #2 were also on their list of trends. It's a shame that not much has changed in 2 years.

The full results of their survey are available at the link, with breakdown by country also available. The United States results are 192 pages long, but don't let that intimidate you. There's lots of interesting information about the topics above, and other topics. If you didn't take the survey (I didn't), it's interesting to see how your own responses compare with others in the U.S. and around the world.

Awareness is key. The LC keeps telling us that....