Global ‘silver tsunami’ of older cancer patients is coming, experts warn
The world must urgently prepare for a global “tsunami” of millions of older cancer patients or risk healthcare systems being unable to cope, leading doctors have warned.
With life expectancy increasing and a rapidly soaring population of older people, a looming increase in elderly patients with cancer was now a “serious public health concern”, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) said in a report. Cancer centres must prepare for “the silver oncologic tsunami”, the experts added.
At ASCO’s annual meeting in Chicago, the world’s largest cancer conference, Dr Andrew Chapman, the director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center-Jefferson Health and a specialist in geriatric oncology, said: “As the population expands and the incidence goes way up, are we really prepared to deal with those needs? I think globally, we’re not prepared.”
“We know cancer is a disease that is associated with ageing, and there are a number of biological mechanisms as to why that is,” Chapman said. “What is often times missed is that the older adults’ goals, wants, needs, preferences, and issues are much different than those of the average adult.
“Sometimes there’s a nihilism – ‘if you’re older we’re not going to bother’ – which is horrible,” he added.
Dr Julie Gralow, the chief medical officer and executive vice-president of ASCO, said healthcare systems should act immediately to avoid being overwhelmed by the dramatic rise in older cancer patients. “By 2040, the global burden is expected to grow to 27.5m new cancer cases and 16.3m cancer deaths simply due to the growth and ageing of the population.”
Source: The Guardian, 5 June 2023