India’s first nationwide study on cancer was simultaneously published in the prestigious British medical journal Lancet and released to the media at the Tata Memorial Hospital here Wednesday.
The comprehensive study over 10 years, tabulating 122,429 deaths in 1.1 million homes in 6,671 areas, found nearly six lakh Indians die of cancer every year, with 70 per cent of these deaths taking place in the 30-69 age group.
The long-term project was conducted by Tata Memorial Hospital in association with the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research and several other cancer institutes.
It found India has only 24 cancer registry sites, of which only two are outside metropolitan areas — Barshi in Maharashtra and near Chennai. Epidemiologist Rajesh Dikshit, the study’s lead author, said: “Some states like Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Punjab don’t have any cancer registry sites.”
Oral, stomach and lung cancers are important causes of death for Indian men; while cervical, stomach and breast cancers cause most deaths among women. Cancer deaths account for six per cent of deaths across all ages; but in the 30-69 age group it rises to eight per cent.