Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) causes

• Changes to the DNA inside growing blood cells lead to AML.
• AML can happen to anyone – it’s not because of something you’ve done.
• The chance of DNA errors increases as we get older.
• Other factors like sex at birth and family history can also increase the risk.

There are some things that make a person slightly more likely to get AML – these are called risk factors. But most people with these risk factors never develop AML. And other people without any risk factors can still develop AML.

So, as we explain some of the risk factors below, it’s important to remember that AML can happen to anyone, and it’s not because of anything you have done.

Like most cancers, AML is more common in older people. This is because the longer we live, the more chance there is for accidental errors to happen in our DNA.

Just over 2,900 people are diagnosed with AML each year in the UK. People of all ages can develop AML, but you’re more likely to get AML over the age of 60. The most common age to develop AML is between 85 and 89 years old, although it can affect people of any age: around a quarter of people who are diagnosed are under 60.

Even children can develop AML, although this is rare. We have separate information about childhood AML.

People who are born male are slightly more likely to get AML than people born female, but we do not know why. Just under half (around 44%) of AML cases in the UK are in females, and just over half (56%) are in males.

In most cases, AML does not run in families. But in some families, there are more cases of AML than we’d expect to occur by chance. If you are worried about leukaemia in your family, talk to your doctor.

Long-term exposure to certain chemicals could increase the risk of getting AML. One of these chemicals is called benzene, which is found in cigarette smoke. This could explain why people who smoke have a slightly higher risk of getting AML.

People who have some other types of blood cancer can be more likely to get AML. This includes myelofibrosis or myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). There are specific treatments for AML that has developed from another blood condition.

Some people develop AML after having chemotherapy, radiotherapy or other specific drugs in the past for another illness. The AML can develop several years later.

This type of AML is called treatment-related or therapy-related AML (tAML). Certain types of treatment are more likely to cause this than others.

Your chance of developing tAML is based on the type of treatment you originally had for the other illness or cancer.

If you have tAML, we have more information about how this might impact your prognosis.

Children with Down's syndrome are at an increased risk of developing any type of acute leukaemia. We have separate information about childhood leukaemia.

There are also some rare inherited genetic mutations that can make a person more likely to develop AML, such as the genetic mutations RUNX1 and DDX41. These are explained more on our page about prognosis and genetic mutations.

We are continuing to fund research that is looking at how and why AML develops, so we can find new ways to treat it.