Study: Cancer risk decreases after age 80

BOSTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- While old age has been linked with heightened cancer risk, research suggests most cancer rates decrease in octogenarians, U.S. researchers said.

Senior author Richard Wilson of Harvard University said that in general, it seems that centenarians are asymptomatic or untargeted by cancers and that almost all cancers peak at age 80 and drop to toward zero near the end of the human life span.

Age-specific cancer rates traditionally come from mortality data, which are termed more reliable, because they are more frequently collected than incidence records. Yet, more than 25 years ago, rates were observed to flatten above the age of 75. Pathology studies in autopsy lends support to the idea that cancer prevalence increases more slowly at old age, and these cancers tend to be less virulent in older patients.

Wilson said that among the reasons for a possible decrease in the probability of getting cancer at a more advanced age are:

-- Change their diets, giving a possible reduction in dietary carcinogens.

-- Lose weight, which may have an effect on several cancers.

-- Decrease use of substances such as alcohol and tobacco.

-- Have fewer exposures from occupational carcinogens.

The findings are published in the American Association for Cancer Research Journal.