Multiple Myeloma Cancer Coaching- “Patients diagnosed with MM will likely have co morbid conditions that need to be managed,,,
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that more people are being diagnosed with cancer, globally speaking and with my cancer, multiple myeloma specifically. The good news is that oncology is keeping cancer patients alive longer than ever.
Generally speaking, MM is an old person’s cancer. As a result, according to research, the majority of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients present with co-morbidities. For example, if you are diagnosed with MM yet you’ve been suffering from heart or kidney damage previously, your overall survival will be negatively effective.
The article linked below points to three important issues in cancer care in the U.S. in the coming years. First, I see the estimates of cancer survivors as being far too low. If there were 13.7 million cancer survivors in January of 2012 and this number is growing by about 1 million survivors annually (1.7 mm cancer diagnoses annually, 500,000 deaths annually) then the survivor population should grow by about 10 million in 10 years- to approx. 23.7 million.
Second, consider the idea of over-diagnosis in breast and prostate cancer. If breast and prostate cancers are over-diagosted as these studies maintain then what does this do to the 5 year survival rate as outlined in the second quote below?
Thirdly, if the cancer survivor population in the U.S. grows to over 23 million in the next 8-10 years, it will be critical for us survivors to think about lifestyle considerations such as nutrition, exercise and supplementation to manage our cancers and side effects.
Have you been diagnosed with multiple myeloma (MM)? Have you recently relapsed? Do you feel overwhelmed? Please scroll down the page, post a question or comment and I will reply to you ASAP.
Thank you,
David Emerson
- Multiple Myeloma Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director Galen Foundation
Recommended Reading:
“From 1990 to 2016, incident cases of multiple myeloma increased by 126% globally, while deaths increased 94%. The US had the most incident cases and deaths.
The global burden of multiple myeloma has increased uniformly in the last 30 years, but the incidence of myeloma is highly variable among different countries, according to the results of a study published in JAMA Oncology…
That means from 1990 to 2016, incident cases of myeloma increased by 126% globally and deaths increased 94%. The researchers estimated that population growth contributed to about 40% of this increase, an aging world population contributed about 52.9%, and a rise in age-specific incidence rates contributed about 32.6%…”
The American Association for Cancer Research released its second Annual Report on Cancer Survivorship in the United States in advance of the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, which will be held in Washington, D.C., April 6-10. The report, published in the AACR’s journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, shows that as of January 2012, there were approximately 13.7 million cancer survivors in the United States, a number that is expected to rise by 31 percent to 18 million by 2022.
sa“The increase in the number of survivors will be due primarily to an aging of the population. By 2020, we expect that two-thirds of cancer survivors are going to be age 65 or older,..”
The current report was based on an analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program and population projections from the U.S. Census Bureau, both government-funded databases.
In addition to providing estimates of future cancer survival trends, the report shows that survival is not uniform across cancer subtypes. Currently, women with breast cancer account for 22 percent of survivors, while men with prostate cancer make up 20 percent. People with lung cancer, the second most common cancer in terms of diagnosis, only represent 3 percent of survivors.
“For patients with prostate cancer, we have a nearly 100 percent five-year survival rate, and breast cancer has made tremendous strides as well, with five-year survival rising from 75 percent in 1975 to almost 89 percent in 2012,” said Rowland. “However, we clearly need to have better diagnostic tools and better treatments for lung cancer.”
According to Rowland, the increase in the cancer survivor population will present new challenges for the health care community. Patients diagnosed with cancer will likely have comorbid conditions that need to be managed, and Rowland estimates 16 percent will have had a previous malignancy.
“How to ensure that these patients lead not only long lives, but healthy and productive lives, will be a vital challenge to all of us,” said Rowland.”
