During the last four years, number of cancer patients in India have increased by over 10%. As of now, there are 13.9 lakh cancer patients in India. Between 2000-2025, India will add around 2 lakh new cancer cases. This has been revealed by the National Cancer Registry Programme Report 2020. Cases were estimated at 12.6 lakh in 2016 and 13.6 lakh in 2019.
The report has been released by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Centre for Disease Informatics & Research, Bengaluru.
As per the estimates, which are based on collation of data for the period between 2012 and 2016, cancer impacts more women than men in terms of overall numbers.
Cancer will continue to effect more women than men, the report says.
The report projects that the number of male cancer cases this year would be 6.8 lakh while the number of women impacted is pitched at 7.1 lakh.
While tobacco-related cancer is likely to contribute 27.1 per cent which is 3.7 lakh cases of the total cancer burden in 2020, cancer of lung, mouth, stomach and oesophagus were the most common cancers among men, it highlighted.
“Among women, breast cancer is estimated to contribute 2 lakh (14.8 per cent) and cervix cancer is estimated to contribute 0.75 lakh (5.4 per cent), whereas for both men and women, cancers of the gastrointestinal tract is estimated to contribute 2.7 lakhs (19.7 per cent) of the total cancer burden,” said the statement.
The rate of incidence among males per 1,00,000 population ranges from 269.4 in Aizawl district, which is the highest, to 39.5 in Osmanabad and Beed districts.
As for females, from 219.8 in Papumpare district to 49.4 in Osmanabad and Beed district, the statement said.
When it comes to tobacco-related cases, northeastern region of the country has the highest number of caes. In this region, like anywhere else, prevalenec of tobacco-related cancer was higher among men than women.
Cancer of breast and cervix uteri were the most common cancers among women. Cancer of lung was diagnosed at a stage of spread to distant sites, while cancers of head and neck, stomach, breast and cervix were in higher proportions with loco-regional spread, the statement said.
Majority of states in India have not declared cancer as a notifiable disease. So far, only nine States in India have cancer as a notifiable disease so far either as administrative order or Gazette notification, including Karnataka.
“Emphasis to be given to making cancer a notifiable disease to enable increase coverage by registries and establishment of registries in areas hitherto uncovered regions to get a more comprehensive national picture,” said Dr Ravi Mehrotra, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), India Cancer Research Consortium (ICMR).
“This will help in better cancer screening, early detection, referral, treatment and palliative care services throughout the country. Sikkim was the only state in India to actually show a decrease in cancer prevalence for both genders, reflecting their good public health system and aware population,” he said
