Gray Tsunami: The world is expected to have a wave of elderly cancer patients in the coming years

With better health and increased life expectancy, the world’s population is aging and must meet their medical needs. Oncologists from around the world warn about what it could mean: meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco, its acronym in English), in Chicago, experts predict a “grey tsunami” of elderly cancer patients in the next two decades.

They also stress that the world is “not ready” for this explosion and suggest that health services adapt.

gray tsunami

“Gray tsunami” refers to population aging and the impacts it causes, both economic and health. With the highest life expectancy, the elderly need specific health care.

The meeting was attended by the director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center-Jefferson Health and specialist in geriatric oncology, Andrew Chapman, who warned that the world is not ready to address the needs of this population.

Cancer

Andrew Chapman spoke specifically about cancer, as the disease is associated with aging and this is a risk factor that has already been identified.

We know that cancer is a disease associated with aging and there are several biological mechanisms that explain it. What is often overlooked is that the goals, wants, needs, preferences and concerns of older adults are very different from those of the average adult.

Andrea Chapmann

Medical services

Numbers

Data presented at the ASCO meeting show that, according to the US National Cancer Institute, nearly three-quarters of the cancer population will be over 65 by 2040, which is 73% of the elderly.

In the UK, according to Cancer Research UK, the number of people with cancer will rise by a third by 2040, taking the number of new cases each year from 384,000 to 506,000.

With information from Brazil agency

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Source: Olhar Digital