Frequency of cancer at older ages

Abstract

The dependency between the risk of death and age is analysed, and the contribution of cancer to the overall risk of death is evaluated as a function of age. The frequency of the different cancer sites is described in different age groups. Lastly cancer mortality trends are presented by age. The risk of death from cancer increases markedly with age, but the risk of a death from a cardiovascular disease increases even more rapidly, consequently the importance of cancer as a cause of death decreases with age. In the male population, lung and head and neck cancers are the most frequent cancers before age 65, whereas prostate and colorectal cancers are more frequent at older ages. In the female population, breast and colorectal cancers are the most frequent cancers except for mortality before age 65 where lung cancer is the second killer after breast cancer. The risk of cancer death decreases in recent years for all age groups.