# Some one said to me that biology and medicine have not really change in the past 30 years

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Tags:** science-math\
**Created:** [August 12, 2024, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593 "2024-08-12T05:00:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/21 "2024-08-12T22:43:10Z")

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Diabetes and Kidney disease therapies have been upgraded many times during my (too short🤭) lifespan.

Of course I’ve been hearing about the “break-through” is just around the corner for many years.  
I think now that there are so many diagnosed as Type 2 diabetics the tide may yet turn.

Personally I’m waiting on a lab grown pancreas, throw in a kidney or two, please.

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/22 "2024-08-13T01:15:20Z")

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> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> What _has_ happened is that a lot of medical tech has advanced beyond the understanding of laymen

What do you mean?

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/23 "2024-08-13T01:19:10Z")

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> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#):
>
> Oncology has what is probably the most exceptional advances with cancers that were barely treatable thirty years ago now managed or completely remediated with modern treatments today/. Cancer, as a general cause of death, is still a major problem, but both the quality of life and eventual outcomes are far better than they were three decades ago. The o.p.’s assertion that “I know when comes to cancer it been kinda of stagnated,” is radically incorrect.

Can you talk about cancer because I don’t think Cancer survivor has change that much in the past 30 years.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/24 "2024-08-13T01:23:52Z")

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> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> I don’t think Cancer survivor has change that much in the past 30 years.

This is incorrect. If you have numbers which show otherwise, share them, and cite them.

> [@](#):
>
> The country’s cancer death rate has declined 33 percent since 1991, thanks largely to cancer research that has led to new treatments, gains in [early cancer detection](https://www.cancercenter.com/diagnosing-cancer) and, most significantly, a sharp decline in [tobacco use](https://www.cancercenter.com/risk-factors/tobacco-and-cancer), according to a new [American Cancer Society (ACS) report](https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3322/caac.21763).

> [@](#):
>
> Five-year survival rates have also been increasing for an even longer period of time. The overall cancer survival rate was 49 percent in the mid-1970s. It currently sits at 68 percent.

> [@](#):
>
> Improved screening has led to detection of [early-stage cancers](https://www.cancercenter.com/stage-one-cancer), often diagnosing the disease when treatment has a higher chance of producing a positive outcome.
> 
> Another key factor in reducing the cancer death rate is the revolution in treatment options for cancer, including:
> 
> - [Immunotherapy](https://www.cancercenter.com/treatment-options/precision-medicine/immunotherapy), especially [checkpoint inhibitors](https://www.cancercenter.com/treatment-options/precision-medicine/immunotherapy/checkpoint-inhibitors) and [CAR T-cell therapy](https://www.cancercenter.com/treatment-options/precision-medicine/immunotherapy/car-t-cell-therapy)
> - [Targeted therapy](https://www.cancercenter.com/treatment-options/precision-medicine/targeted-therapy) drugs that are matched to [specific gene mutations](https://www.cancercenter.com/diagnosing-cancer/genetic-and-genomic-testing) or tumor markers
> - Antibody-drug conjugates that deliver a cell-killing toxic substance directly to the cancer
> - Adjuvant [chemotherapy](https://www.cancercenter.com/treatment-options/chemotherapy)to attack cancer cells left behind during surgery on patients diagnosed with colon cancer or breast cancer

[https://www.cancercenter.com/community/blog/2023/01/cancer-survival-rates-are-improving](https://www.cancercenter.com/community/blog/2023/01/cancer-survival-rates-are-improving)

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/25 "2024-08-13T01:25:35Z")

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The most important thing to realize about cancer is that cancer isn’t a disease. It’s a bazillion different diseases. Some of them are a death sentence. Some of them will probably shorten your life, but you might be lucky. Some of them are a minor inconvenience, and some of them can be completely cured. And every year, we move a few of them from one category to another. There’s just still a bazillion of them left.

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**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/26 "2024-08-13T01:27:10Z")

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> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> > [@Jackson99](#):
> >
> > I don’t think Cancer survivor has change that much in the past 30 years.
> 
> This is incorrect.
> 
> {…}

Also, Post 3.

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/27 "2024-08-13T01:44:49Z")

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> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> The country’s cancer death rate has declined 33 percent since 1991

Is this because of early detection or is this because of better treatment?

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/28 "2024-08-13T01:49:43Z")

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> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Five-year survival rates have also been increasing for an even longer period of time. The overall cancer survival rate was 49 percent in the mid-1970s. It currently sits at 68 percent

That is 20% improvement well this is improvement but it took 30 years for 20% improvement that not big number and at that pace it take other 40 years to get to 100 if it keeps going up like that at that pace.

I’m not sure the public is going to be okay that it take other 40 years to get to 100.

And the reason I say that is this.

Approximately 40.5% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes (based on 2017–2019 data).

> **[Cancer Statistics](https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics#:~:text=Approximately%2040.5%25%20of%20men%20and,will%20die%20of%20the%20disease)**
>
> Basic information about cancer statistics in the United States and how they are used to understand the impact of cancer on society and to develop strategies that address the challenges that cancer poses.

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**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/29 "2024-08-13T01:50:26Z")

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> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> Is this because of early detection or is this because of better treatment?

I have chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Not only are is the life expectancy reduction, due to my diagnosis, now small (some say zero, but I doubt that), treatment is much less unpleasant compared to 30 years ago.

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/30 "2024-08-13T01:54:26Z")

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This graph from NIH shows that over 45 years there’s been clear progress.  
[https://progressreport.cancer.gov/after/survival](https://progressreport.cancer.gov/after/survival)

[![](https://progressreport.cancer.gov/themes/custom/custom_base_theme/images/graphs/lsu1a.jpg) ](https://progressreport.cancer.gov/themes/custom/custom_base_theme/images/graphs/lsu1a.jpg)

However, the progress has been relatively slow, and at this pace we’ll be at it at least another 45 years. If it keeps moving up like this.

Keep in mind there is now pandemic of cancer has 40% of the people will get cancer now.

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/31 "2024-08-13T02:01:05Z")

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> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> Keep in mind there is now pandemic of cancer has 40% of the people will get cancer now.

Everyone dies of something. Heart disease and cancer are near the top of “diseases that happen as you get old”.

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/32 "2024-08-13T02:01:13Z")

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> [@PhillyGuy](#):
>
> I have chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Not only are is the life expectancy reduction, due to my diagnosis, now small (some say zero, but I doubt that), treatment is much less unpleasant compared to 30 years ago.

I think the problem now is there is major problem has 40% of people will get cancer now. And in 20 years from now that 40% may go to 60% of people may get cancer.

The coming cancer pandemic is here and it may get worse.

Has in 20 years from now it may be 60% not 40%.

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/33 "2024-08-13T02:05:23Z")

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> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> Everyone dies of something. Heart disease and cancer are near the top of “diseases that happen as you get old”.

People already are spending 8 hours in the ER to see a doctor it is going to get much worse.

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/34 "2024-08-13T02:08:21Z")

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Problems with availability of care are a mostly US thing and are unrelated to whether there have been advances in medicine and biology. But for what it’s worth, people I’ve known who needed care in the last few years, and who have health insurance, have gotten the care they need.

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**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/35 "2024-08-13T02:11:19Z")

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> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> I think the problem now is there is major problem has 40% of people will get cancer now. And in 20 years from now that 40% may go to 60% of people may get cancer.

The more success with cardio-vascular disease, the more people living long enough to get cancer.

Whenever [you read about a new way to prevent heart disease](https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-treatment-reduce-risk-serious-heart-problems-specifically-adults-obesity-or), that means more cancer. Not a bad thing.

Life expectancy has gone down in some countries (Russia, U.S.) due to lifestyle choices and substance abuse, but medical advances are real.

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**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/36 "2024-08-13T02:11:24Z")

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> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> Can you talk about cancer because I don’t think Cancer survivor has change that much in the past 30 years.

Actually, there are about two hundred identified human cancers (not counting subtypes and extremely rare carcinomas). Some forms of cancer are slow moving and can be excised surgically, with followup chemotherapy or radiotherapy; others are aggressive and prone to metastasize, difficult to diagnose in their early stages, or are fiercely resistant to those traditional treatments. But in nearly every form of ‘common’ cancer, the prognosis for the typical patient has improved, often radically. Even Stage 4 (metastasized) tissue and organ cancers can often be treated with a good rate of success, and diseases such as pancreatic cancer or malignant brain tumors, which were formerly often a death sentence, can be treated and pushed into remission for years or even decades, effectively ‘curing’ them. Some forms of cancer are still resistant to treatment; advanced renal and intestinal cancers often have high mortality rates, both because they are often not caught in an earlier, more treatable stage or because of secondary health impacts that make it difficult for the patient to intake nutrients or filter toxins.

Many of the modern treatments are far less harmful to the patient, and can be combined to increase the probability of pushing the cancer into remission. Whereas previous treatments were often completely removal of an organ followed by almost lethal amounts of chemical or radiological treatments, advances in less invasive surgery or proton-beam therapy combined with highly targeted chemotherapy or radiotherapy, and even advances in immunotherapy, i.e. persuading the patient’s immune system to target and remove the cancerous cells, have resulted in treatments that, while not pleasant, allow for a much better quality of life during treatment and typically fewer lingering side effects and health concerns. Even when a cancer is not fully treatable, it may be manageable while giving the patient a vastly greater quality of life compared to what was possible circa 1990.

Of course, some particularly cancers are curiously stubborn to treatment, and some patients just can’t tolerate the most effective treatments, and so cancer is still a very serious disease that takes too many way too soon. There is no real hope for a ‘universal’ cure for cancer any more than there is a single vaccine that will defeat every virus, but there have been radical improvements in the typical outcomes for cancer patients in the last three decades.

> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> I think the problem now is there is major problem has 40% of people will get cancer now. And in 20 years from now that 40% may go to 60% of people may get cancer.
> 
> The coming cancer pandemic is here and it may get worse.

Are you just making up numbers or do you have any kind of citations for these claims?

Stranger

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**Author:** ![Jackson99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@Jackson99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackson99)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/37 "2024-08-13T02:14:05Z")

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> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> Problems with availability of care are a mostly US thing and are unrelated to whether there have been advances in medicine and biology. But for what it’s worth, people I’ve known who needed care in the last few years, and who have health insurance, have gotten the care they need.

Okay I’m just showing at the current pace of progress if it keeps moving up at this pace it take other 45 years to eradicate cancer.

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**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/38 "2024-08-13T02:15:08Z")

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> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> Problems with availability of care are a mostly US thing . . .

I question that:

[Management of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in Less-Resourced Countries](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34398558/)

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/39 "2024-08-13T02:18:27Z")

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> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> However, the progress has been relatively slow

Yes, but it’s been steady, and it is absolutely _not_ what you stated earlier:

> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> Can you talk about cancer because I don’t think Cancer survivor has change that much in the past 30 years.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-one-said-to-me-that-biology-and-medicine-have-not-really-change-in-the-past-30-years/1005593/40 "2024-08-13T02:19:30Z")

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> [@Jackson99](#):
>
> Is this because of early detection or is this because of better treatment?

As the cite I shared said, it’s both. In addition, decreases in cigarette smoking have also been a significant factor (obviously for certain kinds of cancers).

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