The number of Indians living with cancer is projected to increase from 26.7 million in 2021 to 29.8 million in 2025. The highest incidence last year was in the North (2,408 patients per 100,000) and the Northeast (2,177 per 100,000). It was higher in men.
According to a report on ‘The burden of cancer in India’ by the Indian Council for Medical Research, seven cancers account for more than 40% of the total disease burden: lung (10.6%), breast (10.5%), esophagus (5.8%). ) %), mouth (5.7%), stomach (5.2%), liver (4.6%) and cervix (4.3%).
Elaborating on the projections for 2021-2025, Dr Prashant Mathur, Director, National Center for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), said that men have lost 14.7 million years of life (YLL), 0.72 million years disabled (YLD) and 15.5 million years old (YLD). Will contribute in a million years. Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in 2025. For women this figure would be 13.6 million YLL, 0.69 million YLD and 14.3 DALY.
The findings of the report have been published in the journal BMC Cancer.
Dr Mathur said Mizoram, Delhi and Meghalaya had the highest number of cancer DALYs and the most vulnerable demographic is people in the age group of 65-69 years.
“This information will be useful in understanding the differences in cancer burden across the country, resource allocation, prioritization of interventions, and monitoring indicators at the national and state levels,” Mathur said.
The oncologist said the increased consumption of packaged food with harmful preservatives and junk food food could be a contributing factor.
“The increasing burden of cancer is quite worrying. Earlier, tobacco and alcohol consumption were considered to be the major causes of cancer. Obesity, radiation from mobile phone towers, vegetables grown in toxic water like rivers near industries, food adulteration, The artificial color of food and vegetables also increases the risk of cancer.
“This is a valuable addition to all our efforts to spread cancer awareness. People from low socioeconomic status (SES) cancer need better survival initiatives, so that we can help them achieve a better quality of life. For cancer of people in high ses, we try to connect their lives every day but poor people struggle with life due to lack of awareness and lack of survival support. It is our joint responsibility to help voiceless cancer patients. Give voice.” Abhishek Shankar, Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, AIIMS, Patna.
“We are moving away from natural food to processed food that contains some preservatives that increase the risk of cancer. In mountainous regions like Leh and Ladakh, local people store food in certain types of preservatives, which suggests that the number of cancers of the esophagus and stomach is very high,” said Dr Rakesh Garg, Professor of Oncology at AIIMS, New Delhi. said.