Epidemiological Trends of Cancer Morbidity at a Government Medical College Hospital, Chandigarh, India

Aim: An epidemiological shift has resulted in increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD).Unlike other NCDs which are easily and definitely preventable, the knowledge of cancer prevention is still limitedat present. Various aetiological factors are difficult to control since those are habit forming. Hence an availableremedy remains its secondary and tertiary prevention for which appropriate planning is of paramount importance.Evidence based planning requires careful analysis of data with a view to prioritize various cancers. Keeping inview the fact that the adaptation of smoking free status in Chandigarh city might have a far reaching positiveeffect on the cancer related morbidity of the people, the following study was undertaken to provide base line datato be used for future comparisons.
Methods: The registers maintained in the Department of Radiotherapy werechecked and those belonging to the years 1999 to 2009 were utilized to analyze the cancer morbidity in respectto age, sex, and year of presentation to health care facility.
Results: A total of 4,600 cancer patients (males=2276,females=2324) demonstrated a gradual increase in the number of cancer cases from 150 in the year 1999 to 783in the year 2009. The most common cancers amongst males were cancer of gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) andlung (including larynx) constituting 37.3% and 27.1% of the total, respectively. In females these were cancers ofbreast and cervix representing 33.3% & 17.6% of total cancer cases, respectively, and lung cancer constituted5.3%. The maximum cases of bone cancer (53.8% of all bone cancers) were observed amongst children agedless than 20 years and lung cancer (48.2% of all lung cancers) among the elderly aged 60-69 years. The.