Combustible cigarette smokers are told that tobacco can lead to a multitude of cancers, many of which develop after years of use. That said, did you know that 33% of all registered cancer cases in India are a direct result of tobacco smoking? While we could offer another blog featuring tips to quit tobacco smoking, this week we thought it would be more beneficial to offer insight into a recently published study that examined data from the countries’ various cancer registries.
The study
The study, entitled Clinicopathological Profile of Cancers in India: A Report of Hospital Based Cancer Registries, 2021 was carried out by researchers at the Bengaluru-based National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), a branch of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
NCDIR used data of cancer cases over the past seven years (2012 to 2019), from 96 hospital-based registries throughout the country.
What were the results?
Cancers that are associated with tobacco use constitute 33% of all cancers reported in India’s cancer registry, irrespective of gender—48.7 of all cancers among men and 16.5% among women.
While gender seemingly played a huge role in the study, percentages were also greatly dependent upon the region of the tobacco users, with higher cancer populations due to tobacco use in the northeast part of the country.
Among cancers associated with tobacco use, mouth cancer accounted for 24.4%, followed by lung cancer at 22.4%, and tongue cancer at 16.6%.
“The cancer registries play a crucial role in cancer prevention and control by generating systemic and timely information on new cases of cancer,” said Dr. Prashant Mathur, Director of the NCDIR.
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