Age and oesophageal cancer

• 99% of cases of upper gastrointestinal cancer (oesophagus, stomach, pancreas) occur over in patients over 40 years old
• over 90% of gastric cancers occur in patients over 55 years old
  
  • incidence is strongly related to age, with the highest incidence rates being in older men and women. In the UK between 2009 and 2011, an average of 51% cases were diagnosed in men and women aged 75 and over
    
    
• with respect to stomach cancer:
  • age-specific incidence rates rise sharply from around age 60-64, peak in the 85-89 age group, and subsequently drop in those aged 90+. Incidence rates are higher for males than for females in those aged 40-44 and over (in the younger age groups the sex difference is not significant) and this gap is widest at the ages of 65 to 69, when the male:female incidence ratio of age-specific rates (to account for the different proportions of males to females in each age group) is around 28:10
    
    
• with respect to oesophageal cancer:
  • age-specific incidence rates rise sharply from around age 45-49 years, with the highest rates in the 90+ age group (2)
    • incidence rates are higher for males than females from age 30-34, with no significant differences at younger ages
    • gap is widest at the ages of 40-44, when the male:female ratio of age-specific incidence rates (to account for the different proportions of males to females in each age group) is around 37:10

Reference:

• Cancer Research UK. Stomach cancer incidence statistics (Accessed 3/1/18)
• Cancer Research UK. oesophageal cancer incidence statistics (Accessed 3/1/18)
• Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer (April 2000). NHS Executive.