Summary
PURPOSE: The role of gender and age is currently the subject of research in oncology. Therefore, the proportion of elderly cancer patients in Tyrol by cancer site and gender was estimated and the results were compared to recent literature. In addition, to better highlight the public health aspects of the problem, we present age-specific incidence rates. METHODS: Based on the Cancer Registry of Tyrol including incidence data with years of diagnosis from 1999 to 2008 for the population of Tyrol, the proportions of patients for the age groups 70+ and 80+ by gender were analysed separately and age-specific incidence rates were calculated. RESULTS: 40% of all cancers are diagnosed in the age group 70+ and 15% in the age group 80+. In general, for all cancer sites combined the proportion of women in the age groups 70+ and 80+ is higher than compared to men: 42% versus 38% of incidence cases are of age 70+ and 19% versus 11% are of age 80+. Especially for the age group 80+, there are four cancer sites with the largest proportion: colorectal, stomach, pancreatic and bladder cancer. In addition, the analysis of the dataset by gender showed that remarkable differences in incident cases for several cancer sites can be observed for females compared to males in both age groups, especially for liver, pancreatic and bladder cancer. Age-specific incidence rates (per 100,000 persons) in age-group 80+ as compared to 50-69 and 70+ showed a threefold increase in both, men and women, for all cancer sites combined as well as for colorectal cancer. With regard to other frequent cancer sites, only minor increases were observed for lung, prostate and breast cancer. CONCLUSION: The analysis based on the Cancer Registry of Tyrol shows that there are considerable proportions of cancer cases in the elderly (age 70+ and age 80+) and that gender differences in incidence can be observed in these age groups as well. In addition, age-specific incidence rates underline the importance of cancer in the elderly. Since age- and gender-related effects on cancer survival are of increasing interest, the results provide a basis for further research.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
WHO Factsheets. 2011 [cited 2011 April 22]; Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs297/en/index.html
Statistik Austria, Cancer. 2011 [cited 2011 April 22]; Available from: http://www.statistik.at/web_en/statistics/health/cancer_incidence/cancer_survival/index.html
Glare P, Sinclair C, Downing M, Stone P, Maltoni M, Vigano A. Predicting survival in patients with advanced disease. Eur J Cancer, 44(8): 1146–1156, 2008
Schlesinger-Raab A, Eckel R, Engel J, Sauer H, Loehrs U, Molls M, et al. Metastasiertes Mammakarzinom: Keine Lebensverlängerung seit 20 Jahren. Deutsches Ärzteblatt. Jg. 102 (Heft 40): A2706–A2714, 2005
Quaglia A, Tavilla A, Shack L, Brenner H, Janssen-Heijnen M, Allemani C, et al. The cancer survival gap between elderly and middle-aged patients in Europe is widening. Eur J Cancer, 45(6): 1006–1016, 2009
Glare P. Clinical predictors of survival in advanced cancer. J Support Oncol, 3(5): 331–339, 2005
Micheli A, Ciampichini R, Oberaigner W, Ciccolallo L, de Vries E, Izarzugaza I, et al. The advantage of women in cancer survival: an analysis of EUROCARE-4 data. Eur J Cancer, 45(6): 1017–1027, 2009
Oberaigner W, Siebert U. Do women with cancer have better survival as compared to men after adjusting for staging distribution? Eur J Public Health, 21(3): 387–391, 2011
Brenner H, Arndt V. Recent increase in cancer survival according to age: higher survival in all age groups, but widening age gradient. Cancer Causes Control, 15(9): 903–910, 2004
Gondos A, Holleczek B, Arndt V, Stegmaier C, Ziegler H, Brenner H. Trends in population-based cancer survival in Germany: to what extent does progress reach older patients? Ann Oncol, 18(7): 1253–1259, 2007
Cancer Research UK. 2011 [cited 2011 April 20]; Available from: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/incidence/age/
Curado MP, Edwards B, Shin HR, Ferlay J, Heanue M, Boyle P, Storm H. Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Vol. IX. IARC Scientific Publications, No. 160 ed: International Agency for Research on Cancer; 2008
Oberaigner W, Siebert U. Are survival rates for Tyrol published in the Eurocare studies biased? Acta Oncol, 48(7): 984–991, 2009
Shariat SF, Sfakianos JP, Droller MJ, Karakiewicz PI, Meryn S, Bochner BH. The effect of age and gender on bladder cancer: a critical review of the literature. BJU Int, 105(3): 300–308, 2010
Balducci L. Geriatric oncology: challenges for the new century. Eur J Cancer, 36(14): 1741–1754, 2000
Balducci L, Colloca G, Cesari M, Gambassi G. Assessment and treatment of elderly patients with cancer. Surg Oncol, 19(3): 117–123, 2010
Carreca I, Balducci L, Extermann M. Cancer in the older person. Cancer Treat Rev, 31(5): 380–402, 2005
Hurria A. Geriatric assessment in oncology practice. J Am Geriatr Soc, 57 (Suppl 2): S246–S249, 2009
Danaei G, Vander Hoorn S, Lopez AD, Murray CJ, Ezzati M. Causes of cancer in the world: comparative risk assessment of nine behavioural and environmental risk factors. Lancet, 19;366(9499): 1784–1793, 2005
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Geiger-Gritsch, S., Mühlböck, H., Harrasser, L. et al. Cancer in the elderly and gender aspects – situation in Tyrol. memo 4, 232–235 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12254-011-0297-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12254-011-0297-9