The authors re-analysed GLOBOCAN 2022 and GBD 2021 modelled estimates to describe cancer incidence and mortality in adults aged 65 and over by sex, region and Human Development Index. Older adults accounted for 10.6 million new cases and 6.0 million deaths in 2022, with incidence 1.7 times higher in men and more than three times higher in very-high-HDI than low-HDI regions, though mortality-to-incidence ratios were far lower in the former. The Bayesian projection gives a 75.5% increase in cases among older adults by 2036.
Why it is interesting: Quantifies how much of projected global cancer growth is arithmetic of population ageing rather than changing risk, though it adds no new data beyond the two modelled sources.