Deaths Due to Cancer Among Women of Reproductive Age in Bangladesh on the Rise: Findings From Two National Level Mortality and Health Care Survey

Abstract

Background: Bangladesh, a developing country from southeast Asia has the population of 160 million and currently ranks as being the 7th most populated country in the world. Like many other developing countries, Bangladesh is going through an epidemiologic transition, with significant reductions in mortality due to acute, infectious, and parasitic diseases and increases in noncommunicable, degenerative, and chronic diseases over the last 20 years. In this course, of transition, the deaths due to cancer is also on the rise. Among all adult deaths, cancer the third leading cause of death and accounts for one fifth of all mortality in Bangladesh. However, for women the proportions are even higher. Aim: This abstract looks into the datasets of 2 national surveys - Bangladesh maternal mortality and health care survey 2010 and 2016 - and assess the cause of death among women from reproductive age in Bangladesh. The 2010 survey covered over 150,000 households around Bangladesh, while the 2016 survey covered over 310,000 households from the whole of Bangladesh. Methods: Both the survey followed the same clustering process and sampling procedure, to ensure the compatibility among the surveys. Though the main objective of the survey was to look into the status of maternal mortality and corresponding health service seeking behavior, the surveys also shed lights on overall cause of death for women of reproductive age in Bangladesh. The death cases were assessed by verbal autopsy - using WHO process - and the cause of deaths were classified following ICD 10. The particular deaths due to cancer or neoplasm were separated from the main datasets and then it was looked by demographic information of the respondents. Results: The comparison between the national datasets reveals that, in 2010, 21% Bangladeshi women of reproductive age (15-49 years) were dying due to cancer, meaning 1 in 5 Bangladeshi women from reproductive age is dying due to cancer. However, in 2016 the proportion of death due to cancer raised up to 24% women of reproductive age (15-49 years), meaning 1 in 4 Bangladeshi women from reproductive age is dying due to cancer. Age segregated data shows that, only within this 6 years of timespan, more women from younger age (40-45 vs 50-55 years) are dying out of cancer. Conclusion: The findings of this comparison between the 2 national survey shows that, deaths due to cancer among women of reproductive age in Bangladesh is on the rise. Though Bangladesh has developed a National Cancer Control Strategy and Action Plan with the aim of delivering a universal, quality-based and timely service, the initiative are still boutique. A comprehensive preventive approach through tobacco control, health promotion and vaccination program, in addition to, early detection needs to be established with effective referral chain.