# What are the most important medical issues to focus on in the 21st century

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-important-medical-issues-to-focus-on-in-the-21st-century/676257>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 13, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-important-medical-issues-to-focus-on-in-the-21st-century/676257 "2013-12-13T17:49:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 24

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**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-most-important-medical-issues-to-focus-on-in-the-21st-century/676257/24 "2013-12-14T18:46:38Z")

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> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> The people who did everything right added about 10 years life expectancy, and they still died.

I missed this earlier.

A ten year gain in life expectancy is enormous. In the quote below from an old thread, I cite data to show that eliminating both cancer and cardiovascular disease would lead to ‘only’ a nine-year life expectancy gain.

> [@If there was no cancer, how many years would life expectancy increase?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-there-was-no-cancer-how-many-years-would-life-expectancy-increase/508210/4):
>
> OK. Three years is the gain by eliminating cancer. Look at the middle column of table 22 in [this amazing PDF](http://www.cdc.gov/NCHS/data/lifetables/life89_1_4.pdf).
> 
> For CV disease elimination, the gain is just over six years. Look at the continuation of Table 22 where CV disease is analysed.

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