Leukemia: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments, and Natural Approaches

As the 10th most common cancer in the United States, leukemia will affect up to 2 percent of Americans at some point in their lifetime.

Leukemia occurs when the proliferation of abnormal blood cells outpaces that of healthy blood cells. Illustration by Fei Meng

Leukemia is a general term for cancers affecting blood cells. The specific type of leukemia is determined by the type of blood cell involved and the rate at which the cancer progresses.

In the United States, the incidence rate of leukemia cases was 14.1 per 100,000 people annually, with a mortality rate of 5.9 per 100,000, based on data from 2017 to 2021 for cases and 2018 to 2022 for deaths.