Professor hits at ageism in cancer care
Tuesday March 11th, 2014
Cancer care world-wide remains riddled with ageism, a group of British experts says.
Too
many judgements about treatment are made based on the age of the patient
rather than the value of the treatment, according to Professor Mark Lawler,
of the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queen's University,
Belfast.
Professor Lawler has set out his concerns in an article jointly with the English national director for cancer care, Sean Duffy, and two other experts, writing in the British Medical Journal.
He says elderly women with triple negative breast cancer tend to receive less chemotherapy than younger women - even though the treatment works at their age.
And, the experts say, elderly men with some forms of prostate cancer often have aggressive disease, which could be treated.
The experts write: "There is increasing evidence from around the world that elderly patients are being 'undertreated', leading to a 'survival gap' between older and younger patients.
"We need a fundamental change in cancer policy for the elderly patient.
"Our current practices are essentially ageist, as we are making judgements based on how old the patient is rather than on their capacity to be entered into clinical trials or to receive potentially curative therapy.
"It is disappointing that we see different principles being applied for older patients when compared to younger patients, with these differences leading to poorer outcomes in the elderly patient population."
BMJ 28 February 2014 [abstract]
Tags: Cancer | Elderly Health | UK News
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