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Objective The prognostic effect of miR-196a/b expression in adult patients with leukaemia remains unclear. This study aimed to determine whether miR-196a/b expression can serve as a prognostic factor for patients with acute myeloid leukaemia. Methods We enrolled 124 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia. We measured miR-196a/b expression by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. We classified patients into high and low expression groups based on the median expression value. Cox regression analyses were carried out to assess the prognostic significance of miR-196a/b expression in the context of well-established predictors. Results Patients with high miR-196a/b expression were older in age, and had higher white blood cell and platelet counts than did patients with low miR-196a/b expression. Patients with high miR-196a/b expression were associated with the French–American–British classification M5 subtype and with the presence of nucleophosmin and FLT3 internal tandem duplication mutations, but were not associated with the favourable karyotype risk subgroup. Moreover, patients with high miR-196a/b expression had a shorter event-free survival rate compared with those with low miR-196a/b expression in univariate and multivariate analyses. Conclusion High miR-196a/b expression is associated with poor event-free survival.