Time trends in the prevalence of cancer and non-cancer diseases among older U.S. adults: Medicare-based analysis.

Time trends in the prevalence of cancer and non-cancer diseases among older U.S. adults: Medicare-based analysis. Exp Gerontol. 2018 Jun 19;: Authors: Akushevich I, Kravchenko J, Yashkin AP, Yashin AI Abstract Longer lifespan is accompanied by a larger number of chronic diseases among older adults. Because of a growing proportion of older adults in the U.S., this brings the problem of age-related morbidity to the forefront as a major contributor to rising medical expenditures. We evaluated 15-year time trends (from 1998 to 2013) in the prevalence of 48 acute and chronic non-cancer diseases and cancers in older U.S. adults aged 65+ and estimated the annual percentage changes of these prevalence trends using SEER-Medicare and HRS-Medicare data. We found that age-adjusted prevalence of cancers of kidney, pancreas, and melanoma, as well as diabetes, renal disease, limb fracture, depression, anemia, weight deficiency, dementia/Alzheimer's disease, drug/medications abuse and several other diseases/conditions increased over time. Conversely, prevalence of myocardial infarction, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, pneumonia/influenza, peptic ulcer, and gastrointestinal bleeding, among others, decreased over time. There are also diseases whose prevalence did not change substantially over time, e.g., a group of fast progressing cancers and rheumatoid arthritis. Analysis of trends of multiple diseases performed simultaneously within one study design...
Source: Experimental Gerontology - Category: Geriatrics Authors: Tags: Exp Gerontol Source Type: research