Cancer groups stress care for older patients

The need for improved cancer care for an aging population looms ahead, according to latest data analysis published by federal agencies and the cancer society.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. June 10, 2002.

Washington -- Although death rates for all cancers are declining in the United States, the number of cases of cancer should be on the upswing shortly as the baby boomers move through their mid-50s and beyond, according to a new report.

The single most important risk factor for cancer is age, noted the authors of the "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1973-1999, Featuring Implications of Age and Aging on the U.S. Cancer Burden." Because the U.S. population is growing and aging, the number of people diagnosed with cancer will increase even if rates of cancer remain constant.

These factors are expected to lead to a doubling of the incidence of cancer from about 1.3 million cases currently to 2.6 million by 2050.

"The continuing decline in the rate of cancer deaths once again affirms the progress we've made against cancer, but the report also highlights the need for an acceleration of research as the population of the United States ages," said National Cancer Institute Director Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD.

The predicted increase in the number of people with cancer led researchers to point to a growing need for trained cancer care professionals. Special considerations in treating cancer in older people will require that more attention be paid to existing co-morbidities and the physical limitations of the older population, researchers said.

The report was compiled by researchers at the NCI, the American Cancer Society, the North American Assn. of Central Cancer Registries, the National Institute on Aging and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was published in the May 15 issue of the journal Cancer. [...]