Grant helps center study link between cancer and aging

With cancer death rates far greater for those 65 or older, the National Institutes of Health has selected the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center as one of eight research centers to study the relationship between cancer and aging.

The cancer center has been awarded a $586,000 grant for the first of what will be five years of study jointly funded by the National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Aging, each a part of the National Institutes of Health.

Specific topics that the UW center will study include: palliative care; patterns of care, based on large population-based studies; distinguishing the impacts of cancer from other health problems that affect older people; enhancement of quality of life for older cancer patients; and biology of aging and cancer.