Experts warn of ‘tsunami’ of elderly cancer patients

As the population ages, health services around the world will be hit by a “graying tsunami” of elderly cancer patients over the next two decades, warn oncologists. In Chicago, at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco, for its acronym in English), experts called for urgent action to increase the medical workforce by warning that the world is “not ready” for this explosion . The gray tsunami is a metaphor used to describe population aging and the health and economic impacts associated with aging. With the increase in average life expectancy, it is estimated that this growing elderly population will require specific health care. “As the population expands and the incidence increases, are we really prepared to address these needs? I think globally we are not prepared,” warns Andrew Chapman, director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center-Jefferson Health and an expert in geriatric oncology. “We know that cancer is a disease associated with aging and there are several biological mechanisms that explain it”, says Chapman. “What is often overlooked is that older adults’ goals, wants, needs, preferences and issues are very different from the average adult,” he stresses. Advanced age is a risk factor well identified by the medical community, which sometimes triggers a give-up attitude: “Sometimes there is a nihilism – if you are older nobody will bother – which is horrible,” he added. . Bankruptcy of medical services During the meeting, other participants warned of the pressure on already overburdened health services. Older cancer patients have specific needs and specialists have a responsibility to improve geriatric services to provide adequate care. Scientists say the global workforce shortage means that care will not improve. “By 2040, the global burden is estimated to grow to 27.5 million new cancer cases and 16.3 million deaths, simply due to population growth and aging,” explains Julie Gralow, Chief Medical Officer and Vice President executive at Asco. She adds that health systems “must act immediately to avoid the burden arising from the increase in elderly patients” with oncological diseases. “There will be more older people diagnosed with cancer and, of course, they will require multidisciplinary care,” reiterated Charles Swanton, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK. “This group usually has comorbidities and other illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, heart or respiratory problems,” he noted. “The question is: how is the health system going to deal with this? It is a major concern when it comes to planning. If we have to deal with 30% more cancer diagnoses and those diagnoses are more complex, we will need at least 30% more oncologists, surgeons and pathologists to manage this increase in cases”, argues Swanton. In the United States, the National Cancer Institute projects that, by 2040, almost three quarters of people with cancer will be over 65 years old, which will correspond to 73% per cent of this group of elderly people. In the UK, the number of people diagnosed with the disease will increase by a third by 2040, taking the number of new cases each year from 384,000 to 506,000 for the first time, according to analysis by Cancer Research UK. “Unless more is learned about how the disease affects patients of various ages, medicine will fail with an aging population,” conclude the experts. *Reproduction of this content is prohibited

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