A Glimpse of the Current Cancer Incidence in the Industrial Belt of South Semi-Urban West Bengal

Abstract

BACKGROUNDGlobal burden of cancer is on rise and trends and pattern of cancers are rapidly changing in different geographic area and population groups. Epidemiological information on cancer including the pattern is an important basis for determining the priorities for cancer control in any population group. This study is an attempt to know the incidence of cancer in a tertiary care centre of West Bengal. MATERIALS AND METHODSRecord based cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Pathology of IQ City Medical College, Durgapur, West Bengal. Cases confirmed histologically as cancer were studied. RESULTSOut of 2181 biopsies received in the department, 200 patients were diagnosed as having cancer with the male:female ratio of 1.3:1. The overall incidence of cancer was highest 22.5% in age group 61-70 years. In both the sexes combined, cancer of gastrointestinal tract was the most common cancer, and was found in 104 (52%) patients (60 males and 44 females) with predominant involvement of stomach followed by rectum, oesophagus and colon. After gastrointestinal malignancies, breast cancer is the most common malignancy in female and bladder cancer in males. CONCLUSIONThe current study mainly summarizes the different patterns of cancer incidence in the tertiary care center region. Cancer incidence is increasing gradually among the population. Pattern of malignancies in the present study is different from rest of the India.