First, the good news! Cervix cancer among women is on a decline across the country.
But the bad news is that an alarming number of the fair sex is falling prey to all other types of cancer — breast, thyroid, gall bladder, lung, ovary, uterus, brain and blood-related, as per government data spanning three decades, from 1982 to 2010. It also indicates a significant increase in cancer cases among males with at least 27% associated with usage of tobacco.
The report, based on the total 267 cancer registries set up in major metros in 16 states, was released on Thursday. Overall, the estimated number of new cancer cases among women and men in India is 10.86 lakh in 2013 which is expected to jump to 11.48 lakh in 2015, as per the report ‘Time trends in cancer incidence rates (1982-2010)’.
The cervix cancer cases among women have reported a decline of 1% to 3% across the registry sites including the North-eastern states during the period. The same factors like marriage at a late age and fewer children that could be contributing to decreased cervix cancer instances are also possibly responsible for the rise in breast cancer cases, as per experts.
Besides, the data shows that cancer of the gall bladder in females is increasing in Chennai, Bangalore and Bhopal while lung cancer has shown an increase in all major metros besides in Kamrup urban district in Assam. In Chennai, even young females in the age group of 25-34 and 35-44 years are in the grip of lung cancer, as per the report. The situation is not encouraging across the world as well with a latest report from the WHO saying that 7.6 million people died from cancer globally and every year almost 13 million cancer cases are newly diagnosed.
lifestyle factors such as physical inactivity, obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, exposure to ionising and radiation among others besides dietary factors and pollution are responsible for rise in cancers among both the genders, said Dr PK Julka, Professor & Head, Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, AIIMS.