Investigation of Age-Related Incidence Patterns in Adult Cancers

One of the most commonly diagnosed illnesses in the elderly population is cancer. Despite research to explain the consistent increase in incidence rates with age, the mechanisms are largely unknown. In order to explore the patterns in age-specific cancer incidence through visualization, tables and graphs were generated via SEER*stat of incidence statistics for each reported type of cancer, including all subtypes. More specifically, data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program was used to calculate age-specific rates by sex and race/ethnicity. Patterns were compared to a general trend line of the total cancer incidence from the years 1975-2013, with a focus on incidence in the age group 85+. Results varied substantially by cancer type. We defined four patterns within the cancers: an increasing trend with increasing age; a decreasing trend in older ages, a mixed pattern (some increasing, while others decrease within the same cancer type), and a bimodal curve which included peaks in childhood/adolescence and in older age. Trends varied greatly depending on the type of cancer, the age at which the cancers were diagnosed, the sex of the individual, and the race/ethnicity of the individual. Age-specific patterns in African-American populations were particularly noteworthy and are presented separately