According to U.S. researchers middle-aged adults who ate the most red meat were almost one fifth (19%) more likely to be diagnosed with kidney cancer than those who ate the least.   The scientists also noted that the increased intake of chemicals found in barbecued or grilled meats was also linked to increased risk of the disease.

“Cancer is increasingly a critical illness impacting millions of American adults,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  “U.S. guidelines for better health call for limiting high-fat foods including processed meat, and instead eating more lean meat and poultry, seafood and nuts.”

Researchers noted that previous studies examined links between red meat and kidney cancer had arrived at mixed conclusion.  Researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Rockville used data from a study of close to 500,000 U.S. adults age 50 and older, which were surveyed on their dietary habits, including meat consumption.  The researchers followed the study group for an average of nine years to track any new cancer diagnoses.

On average, men in the study ate two or three ounces of red meat per day, compared to one or two ounces among women.

During the study time period some 1,800 of the participants or less than half a percent were diagnosed with kidney cancer.   Those with the highest consumption of red meat were 19 percent more likely to be diagnosed with kidney cancer than those who ate the smallest amount.  The highest consumption was about four ounces per day and the lowest was less than one ounce per day.

People who ate the most well-done grilled and barbecued meat and therefore had the highest exposure to carcinogenic chemicals that come out of the cooking process also had an extra risk of kidney cancer compared to those who didn’t cook much meat that way.

“More Americans are following healthier plans with the desire of living a long life,” Slome explains.  “If you live into your 80s or beyond, the likelihood you will need long term care is vastly increased but you need to start preparing for this in your 50s and early 60s when the most planning options are still available to you.”

For more information on long term care insurance, visit the Association’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/ .  To read a free online guide about reducing costs for long-term care insurance go to long term care insurance costs.

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While researchers note that the research doesn’t confirm that exercise directly leads to improved rest, the findings are mostly consistent with previous research, according to Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance which tracks health related issues pertinent to longevity matters.

Inadequate sleep has been linked to depression, cardiovascular disease and other health problems notes Slome.  Increased risk of cardiovascular disease puts aging Americans at greater risk of needing benefits from their long-term care insurance Slome explains.

The researchers noted that hoping that a daily walk or jog will clear up sleep problems might be a bit too optimistic.   More than one-third of U.S. adults have trouble falling asleep at night or staying alert during the day, according to background information in the study.

The new study by researchers at Oregon State University examined data from a U.S. health survey conducted from 2005 to 2006.   The researchers focused on over 2,500 men and women between ages 18 to 85.  They measured their activity levels and answered questions about sleep.

All study participants wore accelerometers, devices that measure physical activity for a one-week period.

The researchers adjusted their statistics so they wouldn’t be thrown off by unusually high or low numbers of people of certain ages, weight, health condition, smoking history or other factors. Participants met or exceeded national exercise guidelines by getting at least 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes a week of vigorous exercise or a combination of both.

Those who met the guidelines were 65 percent less likely to report often feeling sleepy during the day compared to those who got less exercise. They were also 68 percent less likely to report sometimes having leg cramps and 45 percent less likely to report having trouble concentrating while tired.

For more information on long term care insurance, visit the Association’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/ .  To read a free online guide about reducing costs for long-term care insurance go to long term care insurance costs.

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Financial planning experts note that most people wait too long to consider their options because the right time to plan is prior to turning age 65 before medical conditions like cancer, high blood pressure are diagnosed or become problematic.  “The sweet spot for <a href=”http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/”>long term care insurance<a> is between ages 52 and 64,” Slome adds.

For more information on long term care insurance, visit the Association’s Consumer Information center.

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According to an analysis of US cancer data, the greying of the baby boomer generation is at the root of the issue.  “Americans are already living longer lives and that will create a long-term care tsunami in the years to come,” explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the Los Angeles-based American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.  “Because long-term care insurance can only be purchased when you can medically qualify, the tsunami will wreak havoc on family savings and state Medicaid welfare budgets.”

National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers found the number of people over age 65 with cancer will rise by about 42% in the next decade.  Cancer is largely a disease of aging, the researchers noted.  

The scientists analyzed data the revealed that in 1971, the number of people in the US who had survived cancer was about 3 million.   By 2008, the figure had risen to nearly 12 million.  In 2008, the proportion of cancer survivors aged 65 and over was 60% and is set to reach 63% by 2020. 

The most commonly diagnosed cancers among survivors were: female breast cancer (22% of diagnoses), prostate cancer (20%), and colorectal cancer (9%).  The high rate of survival among this population is most likely due to improved detection and screening.

In contrast, the percentage of lung cancer survivors is only 3%, despite it being by far the most frequently diagnosed cancer in both men and women.
“When you live a long life and now are even more likely to survive diseases like cancer, you are increasingly likely to need costly long term care, states Slome.   “With more Americans living into their 80s and beyond, having a long term care plan in place is more important than ever.” 

Financial planning experts note that most people wait too long to consider their options because the right time to plan is prior to turning age 65 before medical conditions like cancer, high blood pressure are diagnosed or become problematic.  “The sweet spot for long term care insurance is between ages5 2 and 64,” Slome adds.

For more information on long term care insurance, visit the Association’s Consumer Information center.

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“Insurers paid out $6.1 billion in benefit payments last year,” states Jesse Slome, director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance.  “The majority of new claims are for care in the policyholders own home or in an assisted living community.”  Nursing home care accounts for about one in four new individual claims.

A new report issued by the Society of Actuaries examined the causes or reasons for new claims.  “Nearly one in four claims was initially attributable to Alzheimer’s disease,” Slome who is one of the nation’s leading long term care insurance experts explains. 

Roughly one-in-10 new claims was the result of one of four conditions: stroke (9%), arthritis (9%), injury (9%) or circulatory problems (9%).  Other causes for claims were cancer (8%), nervous system (6%) or respiratory issues (5%).

Claims against long term care insurance policies tend to be initiated at older ages typically after one reaches age 80.  “People in their 50s and 60s may require long term care as a result of an injury,” Slome adds.  “You’d be surprised how many men fall off roofs or out of trees and take eight or nine months to recover.”

While most typically don’t need long term care until older ages, the Association recommends planning begin between the ages of 52 and 64.  “That is the best age to start planning because costs are lowest and you don’t risk being declined because of existing health conditions,” Slome explains.  “After Medicare kicks in people start seeing more doctors and their diagnosis can be the cause of an outright decline for this protection.”

Financial planning experts advise those seeking to learn more about long-term care planning and get long-term care insurance cost contact a designated expert via the Association’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/free-quote/.

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The current generally accepted recommendations call for adults to do at least 150 minutes, or a total of 2.5 hours, of physical activity weekly.

Researchers releasing the findings of their new study found that doing even less than that, only a quarter-hour of daily exercise or about 105 minutes a week still provides benefits.

The study included more than 390,000 residents of  Taiwan.  Researchers followed these individuals for an average of eight years and, based on self-reported amounts of weekly exercise, placed them into five categories.

People in the low-activity group, the scientists explained, exercised for an average of 92 minutes per week, or just under 15 minutes a day.   Compared to those categorized as being in the inactive group, individuals who did almost no physical activity, those in the low-activity group were 14 percent less likely to die from any cause, 10 percent less likely to die of cancer, and had a three-year longer life expectancy, on average.

Every additional 15 minutes of daily exercise beyond the minimum 15 minutes further reduced the risk of all-cause death by 4 percent and the risk of cancer death by 1 percent.

“The research is welcome news for millions of Americans who would benefit from even a minimum amount of exercise,” suggests Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance http://www.aaltci.org.  “Death from heart disease, diabetes and cancer could be reduced and lifespans can be lengthened, though this means people will need to plan for living a long life.”

The Association urges consumers to learn more about long-term care planning and get long-term care insurance cost from a designated expert via the organization’s Consumer Information Center at http://www.aaltci.org/long-term-care-insurance/free-quote/.  “The best ages to start planning are between ages 52 and 62 when costs are lowest and you don’t risk being declined because of existing health conditions,” Slome explains.

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Medical advances and better lifestyles among the aging population appears to have saved 898,000 deaths from cancer between 1990 and 2007.  According to the latest statistics presented today by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance, this is both good and bad news for the primary targets of cancer – senior citizens. 

“When you live a long life, the risk of needing costly long-term care services is great,” explains Jesse Slome, AALTCI executive director.  “When you live a longer life, the risk and cost will be even greater.  More Americans will need home care and nursing home care services.”

Progress in the survival rate of those once impacted by cancer has not benefited all segments of the population equally.  According to researchers, cancer death rates for individuals with the least education are more than twice those of the most educated. 

Cancer death rates according to the American Cancer Society are still declining in the U.S., but some are declining faster than others — and cancer remains the leading cause of death for Americans younger than 85.

In it’s yearly report they estimated that 1,596,670 new cancer diagnoses and more than 570,000 cancer deaths are expected to occur this year. 

Slome shared that death rates fell by about 22% for men and 14% for women between 1990 and 2007. Since the early 2000’s, the decline has been 1.9% a year in men and 1.5% each year in women.  Better early detection and better treatment as well as reduced tobacco use over the past half-century that helped turned the tide in cancer-related deaths.

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According to the report from the U.S. National Cancer Institute that’s a 27 percent jump from 2010.  The surge in cost will be largely driven by an aging population that is expected to develop more cases of cancer in the near-term. 

Projected costs could go even higher if the price tag for care rises faster than expected.  Experts described the 2020 cost estimate as “on the low side” according to the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance which tracks medical and health issues impacting aging Americans. 

Cancer is a disease of aging and the population of elderly Americans is expected to rise from 40 million in 2009 to 70 million by 2030 notes Jesse Slome, executive director for the trade group. Improvements in screening mean cancer is becoming more identifiable and treatable, but therapies are becoming increasingly expensive. 

If the trend in survival and costs continue as they have been, then the estimates could be as high as $207 billion by 2020 one reseracher predicted. The report is published online Jan. 12 and in the Jan. 19 print issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

To estimate the cost of cancer treatment, the research team looked at data on 13 cancers in men and 16 in women. Tracking the rate of these cancers and the current costs to treat them in 2010, they were able to project costs in 2020. 

In these calculations researchers assumed that costs would rise by only 2 percent a year.  The largest increases in cost over the period will be for breast cancer at 32 percent and prostate cancer at 42 percent, simply because more people will be living longer with these diseases, the researchers noted. 

For example, while the cost of treating breast cancer remains relatively low (compared to other tumor types), by 2020 this cancer will incur the highest costs — about $20.5 billion — since there are expected to be many more women living with the disease. 

Commenting on the study, Elizabeth Ward, at the American Cancer Society, said that “a big component of the rise in cost is just the growth and aging of the population. We are just going to have more people developing cancer and under treatment for cancer,” she said.

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Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates that greater efforts are needed to diagnose rectal cancer in young individuals who show potential signs of the disease. 

Rectal cancer is considered to be rare among young individuals in the United States. Because underestimating rectal cancer’s incidence may lead to missed or delayed diagnoses in younger people. 

By conducting a retrospective study using data from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) cancer registry, the investigators identified 7,661 colon and rectal cancer patients under age 40 years between 1973 and 2005. 

The researchers then calculated the change in incidence over time for colon and rectal cancers.

Overall rates of colon and of rectal cancer were low during the years of the study (1.11 cases and 0.42 cases per 100,000, respectively). While colon cancer rates remained essentially flat in individuals under age 40 years in recent decades, rectal cancer rates have been increasing since 1984. Specifically, between 1984 and 2005, the rate of rectal cancer diagnosis rose 3.8% per year.

Posted by the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance.

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A second study found that a double-chemotherapy regimen benefited elderly patients, who represent the majority of those with lung cancer worldwide. Roughly 100,000 patients with lung cancer in the United States are over the age of 70.

According to scientists, the first study found that 87 percent of 82 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer with a specific mutation of the ALK gene, which makes that gene fuse with another, responded robustly to treatment with crizotinib, which is made by Pfizer Inc.

S cientists noted that the patients were treated for an average of six months, and more than 90 percent saw their tumors shrink in size and 72 percent of participants remained progression-free six months after treatment.

The fusion gene was first discovered to play a role in this type of lung cancer in 2007. Researchers are now working on a phase 3 trial of the drug. The Korean researchers reported financial ties to Pfizer.

The second study, a phase 3 trial, involved 451 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer aged 70 to 89. The study had first expected to enroll 520 patients, but it was halted early when good survival results were seen in the group taking the combination therapy.

Currently, elderly patients are typically given just one chemotherapy drug, with younger patients more likely to get two or more.

In the double-therapy group, the median survival increased by four months [to 10.3 months], which is quite unusual in thoracic oncology. Forty-five percent of patients survived one year, which is also quite unusual.

Finally, a phase 3 study out of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston found patients receiving the targeted drug vandetanib combined with chemotherapy had a 21 percent decline in disease progression compared to those receiving chemotherapy alone. Median progression-free survival in the combination arm was 17.3 weeks vs. 14 weeks in the control group.  This study was published in The Lancet Oncology.

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