CANCER DEATHS IN INDIA

Cancer Took 5.56 Lakh Lives In India in 2010

Cancer killed 5,56,400 people across India in 2010. The 30-69 age group accounted for 71 per cent (3,95,400) of the deaths. In 2010, cancer alone accounted for 8 per cent of the 2.5 million total male deaths and 12 per cent of the 1.6 million total female deaths in this age group (30 TO 69 years).

These are some of the findings of a paper published on March 28 in The Lancet. The study found that 7,137 of the 1,22,429 deaths during 2001-2003 were due to cancer, corresponding to 5,56,400 cancer deaths in 2010.

At nearly 23 per cent, oral cancer caused the most number of deaths among men. It was followed by stomach cancer (12.6 per cent) and lung cancer (11.4 per cent). In the case of women, cervical cancer was the leading cause (about 17 per cent), followed by breast cancer (10.2 per cent).

TOBACCO-RELATED CANCERS

 

* The most striking find is that tobacco-related cancers accounted for 42 per cent of all male deaths and 18.3 per cent of all female deaths. 

* There were twice as many deaths as a result of oral cancer (due to tobacco chewing), compared with lung cancer.

* The percentages translate to a huge mortality number. Nearly 1,20,000   [84,000 in men and 36,000 in women] deaths from tobacco-related cancers were seen in both urban and rural areas. About 20 per cent was due to chewing of tobacco.

* At 57,000, rural men were twice more likely to die from tobacco-related cancers, compared with their urban counterparts (27,000).

* Besides causing specific cancers, smoking contributes to overall deaths from other diseases.

* In a February 2008 paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Prof. Jha and others reported that the total mortality from smoking in India was one million a year.

* Bacteria/virus infection caused 19.6 per cent of infection-related cancers — cervical (human papillomavirus- HPV), stomach (Helicobacter pylori) and liver cancers (hepatitis B and C).

REGIONAL VARIATIONS

 

* A 30-year-old male in northeast had about 11.2 per cent chances of dying from cancer before he turned 70. 

* It was 6 per cent in the case of women. 

* Contrast this with the less than 3 per cent risk for men in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

* Tobacco-related cancer deaths in men in Assam and other northeast States were greater than the national rates of deaths from all cancers.

* In the case of cancers common to both sexes, the variation between States was nearly four times. Northeast States, Kerala, West Bengal and Kashmir recorded “particularly high rates of these specific cancers.”

* Men and women in the nine poorer States (Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh) had lower risk than the richer States.