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FeedRisk Assessment
Closing the knowledge gap on cancer and aging.
(page 1 of 3)
The statistics reveal a sobering truth: Each year, more than 1.4 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer. One in four of them will die. Only heart disease kills more people.
If you’re over 65, your risk of getting cancer—and dying from it—is even greater. How much greater is something scientists are just beginning to figure out, largely due to limitations in reporting long-term data and the drawbacks in treating older patients in clinical trials.
Regardless, no one disputes the fact that cancer is a disease of aging—and its presence will only increase in magnitude as people live longer. Age-related research on the subject is particularly relevant today, as the medical community prepares for the onslaught of elderly baby boomers. Indeed, the 65-plus set is expected to double in size from 35 to 70 million by 2030.
The National Institutes of Health recently concluded a five-year, $25 million cancer-prevention initiative. It marks the first time the NIH’s National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Aging have joined forces to study the relationship between aging and cancer. Research focused on eight different areas and every conceivable subcategory, from possible age bias in early detection services to older people’s drug-absorption rates.
The study concluded that cancer risk for people over 65 is 10 times that of younger people—and the morality rate is 16 times greater. While the NCI researchers have singled out age 65 as the turning point, most cancer-prevention programs prefer the term “middle age.” The American Cancer Society notes that about 77 percent of all cancers diagnosed today occur in people who are 55 or older.
To understand why cancer is more prevalent in older people, it helps to see it as a disease that disrupts the normal process of cell renewal. Over a lifetime, the process is repeated many times: Cells become old or damaged, eventually die, and are replaced with new ones.
Scientists know that cancer develops when cells don’t go through the normal renewal process. They may become “rogue” cells that divide and multiply until they destroy their “host.” Or cancer could be symptomatic of a cellular disorganization that also involves healthy cells. No one is sure which theory is more valid.
Age issues aside, cancer is a complicated disease. A diagnosis typically sets off a chain of agonizing decisions, second opinions, and multiple calls to insurers.
“People’s knowledge varies greatly—but even so, it requires a lot of different information, depending on what type of cancer it is and how it progresses,” says Stephanie Raivitch, director of Fox Chase Cancer Center’s Resource and Education Center.
Fox Chase offers a live Internet help line manned by professional health educators. It was established in 2003, partly in response to the growing number of patients and family members doing their own research on the Web.
Fox Chase staffers spend part of their workweek reviewing online resources, including the latest headlines and cancer research. “We get many calls about nutrition needs during cancer treatment and treatment options, such as clinical trials,” says Raivitch.
