Growing old and in a healthy way is a great triumph for any human being, having the possibility of living with the elderly, however, it is no secret to anyone that being able to achieve it is a rather difficult life task and this is accompanied by endless diseases.
Suffering from different pathologies in older adulthood is normal, however, the World Health Organization (WHO) is currently quite concerned about a study that determines that by 2040, cancer cases in this population will grow by up to 60%
alarming statistics
The great concern of the WHO was born thanks to a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco), held in the city of Chicago, where experts called for urgent measures to increase the medical workforce, since they warned that the world “does not is prepared” for the explosion of cancer cases that is coming.
Andrew Chapman, director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center-Jefferson Health and an expert in geriatric oncology, cautions that “as the population expands and the incidence increases, are we really prepared to address these needs? I think globally we are not ready. We know that cancer is a disease associated with aging, and there are several biological mechanisms that explain it.”
Julie Gralow, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Asco, explains with great concern that “by 2040, the global burden is estimated to grow to 27.5 million new cancer cases and 16.3 million deaths, simply due to growth in population and aging.
For his part, Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinical officer, adds that “there will be more older people diagnosed with cancer and, of course, multidisciplinary care will be required. This group usually has co-morbidities and other diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, heart or respiratory problems.