If 1 in 2 people encounter cancer in their lifetimes, then whats the average age people get it?
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1 in 2?
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I don't know the exact average age, but it's generally fairly old. The older you are, the more likely you are to get cancer.
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I always heard it was 1 in 3, not 1 in 2...unless they're national stats and the UK is less than the states or something.For the record, my mother was 44 when she died of stomach cancer.
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see, my biggest concern is in the future that maybe people only live to around 40. But if its 1 in 2, then why isnt my friends or family that are over 50 still ok? I dont understand. Cause when i hear 1 in 2, im thinking basically everyone will get it but do they mean when your 40? or mainly much older?
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???
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They mean much older. It's not that cancer is becoming a more dangerous disease than it used to be: for a given age of person, the incidence of most cancers has stayed much the same, and a few have declined. Rather, as general health increases and people live longer, they get into higher ages which means greater risk of cancer.Because 100% of people die, when you decrease the mortality of some diseases, it means that inevitably the proportion of people dying of other causes increases, because the figures all have to add to 100%. Cancer has been one of the hardest diseases to treat.
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good point. But i also think the documentary was trying to point out that cancer is spreading more because of all the carcinogens appearing in the enviornment, foods, products etc. And read this: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr27/en/Doesn't this explain that the disease is getting worse?
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Note the paragraph: "The predicted sharp increase in new cases -- from 10 million new cases globally in 2000, to 15 million in 2020 - will mainly be due to steadily ageing populations in both developed and developing countries and also to current trends in smoking prevalence and the growing adoption of unhealthy lifestyles."
There are small bits of good news. Stomach cancer has declined because of better food preservation - it's mainly caused by food that is going bad.