Things like cancer, Alzheimer's and so on that are higher in modern times are primarily diseases of the elderly. They were less common prior to recent generatio

Things like cancer, Alzheimer's and so on that are higher in modern times are primarily diseases of the elderly. They were less common prior to recent generations because of the smaller number of people who managed to get to the age where those would be problems. Yes, you can argue that (in some countries but not at all globally) there has been a small decrease in life expectancy over the last couple of decades but that is insignificant compared to the advances made over the last century.