The number of people aged 65 and over living with cancer in the
UK is set to treble by 2040, Macmillan Cancer Support is warning
today. According to new research funded by Macmillan and carried
out by King’s College London, the number of older people with
cancer will increase to 4.1 million by 2040, up from 1.3 million
in 2010, due to a number of factors including the ageing
population and increasing survival rates. The figures are almost
four times higher than for people in the 45-64 age bracket. The
greatest increase in incidence is expected to be seen in lung
cancer in older women. This is forecast to more than double
between 2010 and 2040, from 319 people per 100,000 to 831. On
the other hand, lung cancer prevalence in older men is expected
to fall, due to a dramatic decline in smoking among men since
the 1970s. Professor Henrik Møller, one of the study’s authors
at King’s College London, said the large increases expected to
be seen in the oldest age groups in the coming decades will
bring with them incre