Psychiatric aspects of cancer in the aged

The greatest risk factor for cancer is ageing, yet little is known about the epidemiology and treatment of psychiatric disorders in the aged cancer population. This is particularly true for the group over 75 years of age. Four important areas of psychiatric treatment relevant to the aged cancer patient are: illness behaviour, cognitive disorders, depression and psychosocial adaptation. Within these areas the following four conclusions can be made: (a) Symptom presentation and health promoting practices are two important aspects of illness behaviour that affect the detection and prevention of cancer in the aged. (b) It is likely that there will be an increased co-occurrence of dementia and cancer, raising important issues of treatment and informed consent. (c) There appears to be evidence that depression in cancer patients does not increase with age. (d) Similar to depression, despite widely differing methods and age cutoffs, the results of several studies have shown that psychosocial adaptation to cancer is maintained with age. With respect to psychiatric treatment, no patient should be denied full use of appropriate therapy on grounds of old age alone, and more attention should be given to the systematic detection and evaluation of reversible cognitive disorders.