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A study of 3535 consecutive autopsied patients over 65 years of age showed that 1,149 patients (32.5%) had one or more cancers. Males were affected by cancer nearly twice as frequently as females in this elderly population (40.3% vs. 23.9%). There were more incidental neoplasms as age advanced. Among the common cancers, the most frequent incidental cancers were those of the prostate gland, kidney, and colon. Cancer tended to metastasize less frequently in the elderly. Several possibilities have been proposed to explain the paucity of metastases in later life.
Suen et al. (1974) studied this question.