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Cancer cases up 16% in last 7 years

NewsCancer cases up 16% in last 7 years

Cancer seems to have spread its tentacles further in the last seven years as the number of new cases has increased by 16% since 2012, according to Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (ICMR-NICPR).

“The total number of new cancer cases has gone up from around 10 lakh in 2012 to more than 11.5 lakh in 2018, an increase of about 16%,” revealed the Director of the institute Prof Ravi Mehrotra while speaking at Globocan 2018, a workshop on cancer organised in IMRC premises here on Wednesday.

According to the data made available at the workshop, it is the cases of lip and oral cancer that have more than doubled since 2012, mostly due to increased consumption of alcohol and tobacco products. While lip and oral cancer cases have registered a sharp 114.2% rise, the number of cancer-related deaths has witnessed a 12.1% increase to 7,84,832 in 2018.

Speaking to the media, Director-General of ICMR Prof Balram Bhargava said use of smokeless tobacco (SLT) causes oral cancer with high chance of heart-related diseases. “SLT causes oral cancer, but a large population in India still consumes it. There are high chances of heart diseases and stroke due to smokeless tobacco,” he explained.

As per the data published in the special issue of Indian Journal of Medical research (IJMR), there are nearly 20 crore SLT consumers in India where more than 3,50,000 die due to it. The use of SLT is widespread in both males and females.

Almost 50% of tobacco users consume the smokeless variety. There are more than 40 forms of SLT available and consumed globally. However, in India, ‘khaini’ and ‘gutkha’ are the common forms of SLT used by men while women consume betel quid with tobacco.

Prof. Bhargava revealed that the maximum number of SLT consumers are from India and Bangladesh. “SLT remains the major agenda for not only India but the world at large. About 90% SLT burden is on India and Bangladesh. In India, more importantly, 90% of the burden is shared among 13 states, and that is what we are targeting,” elaborated Prof. Bhargava.

Putting a check on the cancer cases pertaining to SLT consumption is one of the major focus areas of NICPR. “This is the first time anywhere in the world that a journal has published a special supplement on smokeless tobacco,” said Prof Bhargava.

However, Prof Mehrotra said that the use of tobacco has decreased to an extent in India whereas consumption of alcohol is certainly increasing. He mentioned that with more diagnostic facilities available now and increased awareness, more and more cases are coming to notice. The only solace in the whole data is the reduction in cervical cancer cases by 21.2%.

Cancer is the second most common killer in India. According to the cancer registry released by the ICMR, cancer cases are estimated to grow by 25% by 2020. The study was carried out by Global Burden of Disease (GBD) to understand the variation in the state-level burden of cancer as compared to the global burden.

 

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