Tobacco causes 33% of cancers; at 50%, highest in NE: Research

BENGALURU: Cancers associated with tobacco use constitute 33.3% of all cancers reported in India’s hospital-based cancer registry, irrespective of gender. It comprised 48.7% of all cancers among males and 16.5% among females. The study ‘Clinicopathological Profile of Cancers in India: A Report of the Hospital Based Cancer Registries, 2021’ was done by Bengaluru-based National Centre for Disease Informatics & Research (NCDIR), a branch of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

NCDIR has made use of the data of cancer cases for seven years, from 96 Hospital-based Cancer registries (HBCRs’) under the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP). An analysis of data from 6.1 lakh cancer cases, diagnosed and registered in the NCRP between 2012-2019, has revealed that the prevalence of cancer cases was 52.4% among males and 47.6% among females.

Over 2 lakh cancer cases were associated with tobacco usage alone. The prevalence of tobacco-use related cancers was highest in the northeast (50.4%), followed by central India (42%), west (36.9%), north (32.9%), south (28.6%), and east (25.3%). However, in terms of absolute numbers, south India has the highest number of cases — 61,921 — of cancer linked to tobacco usage.

The cancer registries play a crucial role in cancer prevention and control by generating systematic and timely information on new cases of cancer, said Dr Prashant Mathur , Director, NCDIR. Among cancers associated with tobacco use reported from all HBCRs, mouth cancer accounted for the highest at 24.4%, followed by lung cancer (22.4%) and tongue cancer (16.6%). The highest tobacco associated cancers among females was mouth cancer (26.4%)