ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Cancer became one of the most common clinical problems in the care of older adults. Cancer is the leading cause of death in Israel. Currently about 50% of cancer diagnoses occur in patients over 65 years of age, but this number is expected to increase to 70% by 2030. This is largely due to the shifting demographics, increasing life expectancy and improvements in the level of mortality from cardiovascular disease. The aging cancer population has an impact across the treatment spectrum from screening decisions, multimodality treatment options, survivorship and quality of life. This paper will review the approach to the principles of geriatric oncology within different treatment modalities.
Subject(s)
Cardiovascular Diseases , Neoplasms , Aged , Aging , Geriatric Assessment , Humans , Life Expectancy , Neoplasms/diagnosis , Neoplasms/therapy , Quality of LifeABSTRACT
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1634/theoncologist.2016-0208.].
ABSTRACT
Body mass index (BMI) and simple counts of weight are easy and available tools in the clinic and in research. Recent studies have shown that cancer patients with a low normal BMI (or those with weight loss) have worse outcomes than obese patients. These results suggest that obesity has a protective effect and has been termed the "obesity paradox." In this commentary, we discuss hypothetical explanations and take a step beyond BMI or simple weights alone to present other useful and more specific body composition metrics, such as muscle tissue mass, visceral fat mass, and subcutaneous fat mass. Body composition is highly variable between individuals with significant differences seen between various races and ages. Therefore, it is critical to consider that patients with the exact same BMI can have significantly different body compositions and different outcomes. We encourage further studies to examine body composition beyond BMI and to use other body composition metrics to develop individualized treatments and intervention strategies. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 26(1); 13-16. ©2017 AACR SEE ALL THE ARTICLES IN THIS CEBP FOCUS SECTION, "THE OBESITY PARADOX IN CANCER EVIDENCE AND NEW DIRECTIONS".
