Study of incidence and pattern of cancers among patients attending to tertiary care hospital Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya, Karnataka, India

Abstract

Background:Cancer is one of the leading causes of adult deaths worldwide. Epidemiological studies have shown that many cancers may be avoidable. It is widely held that 80-90% of human cancers may be attributable to environmental and lifestyle factors such as tobacco, alcohol and dietary habits. As per Indian population census data, the rate of mortality due to cancer in India was high and alarming with about 806000 existing cases by the end of the last century. The objectives of this study to determine the incidence and pattern of cancer distribution among patients attending general surgical and oncosurgery OPD at Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences, Mandya and comparing with existing data.

Methods: Registration data from all registered cancers diagnosed between October 2014 and March2016 were obtained from the Hospital Cancer Registry. Data from the registries were combined to produce incidence rate by age, sex and cancer status. Incidence rates were calculated for all cancer combined and for specific cancer sites.

Results:From the cancer registry of the institution, it was reported that 240 cancer cases was recorded between October 2014 and March 2016. Male cancers accounted for 34.1% while female cancers were 65.33%. Following the statistical analysis, it was found that gynaecological malignancy topped the incidence chart with 60 patients (25%). This was followed by breast, head and neck and carcinoma lung. Other types of malignancy are urogenital, soft tissue tumour and cutaneous malignancy.

Conclusions:Tobacco and alcohol related cancers predominated in males. In females, cervical cancer predominated over breast cancer. Cancer is an emerging public health problem especially in developing country. Epidemiological data based studies like this often provides research foundation for the establishment of suitable strategies to assist in national cancer control program where the cancer is a crucial public health problem. With adoption of behaviours and life style associated with economic development such as smoking, unhealthy deity and physical inactivity couple with aging and growth of the population. Hence a well-coordinated cancer control programme is essential through public education to prevent cancer, screening programmes to facilitate early diagnosis and the need for high quality population based cancer registry for better understanding of the cancer burden and cancer control planning.