Meghalaya district leads in tobacco-related cancers

Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district has the highest relative proportion of tobacco-related cancers (TRCs) for both men and women in the country, the latest National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) data shows.

"The East Khasi Hills district has the highest relative proportion at 69.5 and 45.0 percent for males and females respectively," said the NCRP's three-year report on population-based cancer registries: 2012 to 2014.

The report charts out cancer-related information on 27 Population-Based Cancer Registries (PBCRs) in India.

It includes a chapter on TRCs, which indicates the impact of tobacco use on cancer incidence through overall proportions and specific anatomical sites of cancer.

Among the males, the lowest TRCs was in Arunachal Pradesh's Naharlagun in Papum Pare district (18.3 percent) whereas the lowest TRCs proportion among females was in Pasighat PBCR (6.9 percent) in the state.

In men, lung cancer prevalence was highest in 11 registries, with its rate ranging from 21.5 percent in Sikkim PBCR to 48.2 percent in Manipur.

Lung cancer's incidence in women ranged from 24.1 percent in Chennai PBCR to 72.2 percent in Manipur PBCR.

The report also revealed that Aizawl in Mizoram had the highest incidence of cancer (expressed as age adjusted rate or AAR) in men in India, followed by Papum Pare district under Naharlagun PBCR in Arunachal Pradesh.

The order was reversed in case of women, with Papum Pare district recording the highest AAR followed by Aizawl district, the report said.

--IANS

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