Cancer cases on the rise in India -- ICMR

Cancer cases on the rise in India -- ICMR
SANCHITA SHARMA

NEW DELHI, NOV 3: Cancer cases in the country are on the rise, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) says. The number of new cases is likely to shoot up to 8.06 lakh by the year 2001, up from the 6.45 lakh cases in 1992, a yet-to-be-released report by the Council says.

Describing the increase as ``small but significant'' in its report on Cancer Research in ICMR 2000, the ICMR says the incidence of cancer is more in urban areas among both men and women.

While the higest number fall prey to lung cancer in Delhi, Mumbai and Bhopal, breast cancer is the common among women in Delhi and Mumbai. Cervical cancer plagues women the most in other parts of the country, while men are more likely to have oral cancer.

``About a third of all cancer cases in India are related to tobacco use and occur in tobacco-related sites like the mouth, pharynx, larynx, oesophagus and lungs,'' says ICMR Director-General Nirmal Kumar Ganguly. About half the cancers in men and one-fifth among women are attributed to tobacco use.

``Epidemiological data from across the country has shown that tobacco causes 87 per cent of lung cancers among men and 33 per cent among women,'' says Kishore Chaudhry, Assistant Director, ICMR. ``Tobacco is the only known cause of cancer till date,'' says Goura K. Rath, HOD, International Rotary Cancer Hospital at AIIMS. ``It's wrong to say that pollution causes lung cancer, for if this were so, a smoke-related cancer like lung cancer would the leading cancer among women in Delhi and Mumbai,'' he says.

While lung cancer is among the first three common cancers among men in urban areas, it is less much common among women, not even figuring in the first five in polluted urban cities like Delhi.

The ICMR runs a National Cancer Registry Programme -- eleven registries across the country -- to assess the trends in cancer growth and identify and control manageable risk factors, of which the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a part.

Interestingly, cancers of the stomach are the most common among men in Bangalore and Chennai, but studies so far have still not been able to identify the cause. The incidence is much higher in Chennai as compared to Bangalore.

Women, who observe poor hygiene and suffer from sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), are at a higher risk of cervical cancer. Breast and cervix apart, other common forms of cancer among women are cancers of the mouth, oesophagus, ovary and stomach.

The ICMR plans to put these figures on its website soon for the information of the public.