On the occasion of National Cancer Awareness Day, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Sunday that the Northeastern states have been experiencing a higher burden of cancers in both men and women.

ICMR said that a total of 1.39 million was estimated to be the cases in these states in 2020 which is expected to rise to 1.56 million in 2025.

The Northeastern region of India comprises eight states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. ICMR report on the cancer burden of these eight states is based on the analysis of the data from 11 Population Based Cancer Registries (PBCR) and three Hospital Based Cancer Registries (HBCR) from 2012-14.

The coverage by the PBCRs is around 35 per cent of the population of the Northeastern states and reflects the cancer profile of the region fairly well owing to the representation of all the eight states of Northeast partially or completely. The report briefly puts forth the risk factor profile for cancers and health system status.

In a report ‘Clinicopathological Profile of Cancers in India: A Report of the Hospital Based Cancer Registries, 2021’, ICMR said that the proportion of all cancer cases was higher in males (52.4 per cent) than females (47.4 per cent) with gynaecological cancers, including breast cancer, comprising over half of all cancers in females. Childhood (0-14 years) cancers constitute 7.9 per cent of all cancers, noted the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR).

The report said that cancers of the head and neck region accounted for nearly one third of the cancers among males. The highest proportion of cancer from all sites was reported in the 45 to 64 years age group, except for prostate cancer in males, which was higher in those over 65 years.

The report further states that out of the 6,10,084 cancers, 3,19,098 (52.4 per cent) cancers were reported in males, and 2,90,986 (47.6 per cent) in females.

The ICMR said that tobacco use-related cancers constituted 27 per cent of all cancers. The leading cancer cases projected in 2025 are breast cancer (females), lung cancer and Oral cancers. The leading cases of cancers in men will be oral, esophagus, lung and stomach, while in women breast and cervix cancer will be leading in 2025.