At the same time, doctors across the country report treating much more aggressive forms of the disease in younger patients. When prostate cancer strikes younger men, the cost to individual families and society at-large is amplified. Businesses lose workers, who are often in the prime of their careers. Dependent children lose fathers. Wives lose husbands.
Fathers lose sons.
This trend has developed just as a shift in demographics has boosted the number of men at risk for prostate cancer. The oldest members of the Baby Boom generation, which represents the largest demographic group in American history, celebrated their 50th birthdays in 1996. From the cure for polio in their childhood to the social and political upheaval in their young adulthood, Baby Boomers have forced dramatic social change at every stage of their development. By the year 2000, there will be about 31 million Americans over the age of 65, making up more than 12 percent of the population, and cancer will surpass heart disease as the number one cause of death. Finding a cure before cancer takes its greatest toll on the Baby Boomers will save millions of lives and trillions of dollars, Atkins says.