Common Cancers in Karachi, Pakistan: 2010-2019 Cancer Data from the Dow Cancer Registry

Abstract

Objectives: To present 2010-2019 cancer data from the Dow Cancer Registry representing all districts of Karachi (~17.4 million).
 Methods: The study was conducted at the Dow University of Health Sciences. After ethical approval, the Dow Cancer Registry was established at the largest government-run diagnostic and reference center of Karachi (Dow Labs). All cancers registered during 2010-2019 were analyzed. Patients >18years of age were labeled as adults while those with ages ≤18years were classified as children/young adults.
 Results: During 2010-2019, a total of 22,858 cancers were registered. Of these, 9,112(39.9%) cancers were diagnosed in males while 13,746(60.1%) in females. Incidence rates for all cancers (all ages) were 108/1,00,000 for males and 188.6/1,00,000 for females. In adult males, cancer of lip and oral cavity was the most frequently diagnosed cancer (33.6%), followed by non-melanoma –skin-cancer (NMSC) (7.2%), oesophagus (6.8%), colorectum (6.7%) and stomach (4.9%). In adult females, breast cancer was the most frequently recorded malignancy (53.2%), followed by cancers of lip and oral cavity (10.4%), oesophagus (5.3%), colorectum (3.3%) and NMSC (3%). In children, most common malignancy was that of brain and nervous system (15.3%), followed by Hodgkin’s lymphoma (14.2%), colorectum (8.1%), endocrine-&-related organs (8%) and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (7.8%)
 Conclusion: Cancers of lip and oral cavity and breast cancer were the most common malignancies in males and females respectively. In paediatric group, cancers of brain and nervous system were most common. Alarmingly, Karachi males have highest ASR of cancers of lip and oral cavity compared to any other city of Pakistan.
 doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.7.3056
 How to cite this:Qureshi MA, Khan S, Sharafat S, Quraishy MS. Common Cancers in Karachi, Pakistan: 2010-2019 Cancer Data from the Dow Cancer Registry. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(7):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.7.3056
 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Lip and oral cavity cancers (C00-C06) from a mega city of Pakistan: Ten-year data from the Dow Cancer Registry

“…Cancer registrations at the DCR were sourced from Dow Labs, which collect cancer specimens from around the city via 34 collection points in Karachi. 4 , 5 …”

“…Collection of data and data indexation was performed as already reported. 4 , 5 All cancer diagnoses were confirmed via histopathology and coded as per ICD10 coding guidelines. All data were indexed initially using MS Excel as well as SPSS.…”

“…More recently, the DCR published the overall cancer burden in the city of Karachi from 2010 to 2019. 5 Although the data presented herein have been extracted from the DCR the focus is on detailing the clinic pathological features of lip and oral cavity cancer in Karachi.…”

Quantitative Analyses of Skin Cancer Research in Pakistan

“…5 Recently, a pathology-based cancer registry of Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) listed NMSC, as the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer (being second most common in males and fifth most common in females), suggesting a substantial increase of skin cancer burden in Karachi. 6 Reported cases in Karachi and Larkana are far common than in other parts of Pakistan (like Hazara-district) proving the wellestablished fact that there exists an inverse relation between skin cancer incidence and distance from the equator. 7 Taken together, these data suggest an increase of skin cancer throughout Pakistan in recent years.…”

Revival of Cancer Registration in Karachi, Pakistan

“…Qureshi et al in 2016 reported 6-year (2010-2015 cancer data from the Dow Cancer Registry which represents the largest public sector diagnostic and reference laboratory of the city (Qureshi et al,2016). More recently, another report from the Dow Cancer Registry detailed cancer patterns in Karachi during 2010-2019(Qureshi et al, 2020. Importantly, revival of the KCR was announced in a recent report which describes cancer patterns in Karachi during 2017 -2019(Pervez et al, 2020.…”