Bhatia S, Dai C, Landier W, et al. - Reduction in late mortality among allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation (BMT) recipients has been noted over the past 40 years but life expectancy was not restored to expected rates relative to the general US population. Decrease in risk of late mortality seemed to be limited to those who received transplantation at a younger age or those who received bone marrow. Efforts to mitigate causes may be beneficial to decrease late mortality following blood or marrow transplantation.

• This is a cohort analysis of 4,741 persons 2 years post-allogeneic blood or marrow transplantation.

• At 10 years, cumulative incidence of recurrence-related mortality plateaued, reaching 12.2% at 30 years from BMT.

• Infection, subsequent malignant neoplasms, cardiovascular disease, and pulmonary disease were the main reasons for nonrecurrence-related mortality.

• Relative to the general population, the relative mortality was higher at 30 or more years post-BMT (standardized mortality ratio, 5.4).

• A 20.8% decrease in life expectancy (8.7 years of life lost) was seen in the cohort.

• Relative to 1974-1989 (reference), the adjusted 10-year hazard ratio of all-cause death decreased over the 3 eras (1974-1989, 1990-2004, and 2005-2014), as did years of life lost.