Breast cancer cases surge as cervical dips

New Delhi (India): The good news: fewer women in India now suffer from cervical cancer — counted among the worst of killers. The bad news: breast cancer cases have shot up alarmingly across the country.
A landmark analysis of cancer cases in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore between 1982 and 2005 by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found that while cervical cancer cases dipped, in some cases by almost 50%, the incidence of breast cancer doubled. And, the trends mentioned in ICMR’s yet-to-be-released report ‘Time Trends in Cancer Incidence Rates (1982-2005)’, were universal in all four cities.
While Bangalore saw breast cancer cases more than double since 1982 — 15.8 in a population of one lakh in 1982 to 32.2 in 2005 — Chennai recorded 33.5 new cases of breast cancer in 2005 against 18.4 in 1982.
Delhi recorded 24.8 new cases of breast cancer a year per 100,000 women which rose to 32.2 in 2005. Mumbai recorded 20.8 new cases of breast cancer per 1 lakh women in 1982 which rose by almost 10% in 2005.
‘‘Factors like late age of marriage and fewer children could be responsible for the decline,” said ICMR director general and secretary of department of health research Dr V M Katoch.
Chief of medical oncology at AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) and head of the Delhi Cancer Registry Dr Vinod Raina agreed, ‘‘Increasing number of women are now delivering in institutions which has greatly improved personal hygiene. Women now marry late and give birth to fewer children, all of which have led to a dip in cervical cancer cases.’’
Ironically, the same reasons, says Dr Raina, have led to increased breast cancer rates in India. ‘‘Western lifestyle, increased consumption of fat products, obesity, late marriages, delayed child bearing and less number of children being conceived leading to reduced breastfeeding and use of some contraceptives, are all believed to be behind this increased risk of breast cancer,” he said. “This cancer is also inevitable with an ageing population.’’
Dr Raina added that breast cancer cases in India are fewer than in the West which records around 100 new cases per 100,000 population every year. Cervical cancer: Chennai sees 50% fall in cases
New Delhi: While the number of women suffering from cervical cancer in India has come down, breast cancer cases have shot up alarmingly.
In case of cervical cancer, this is how the cases have dropped: In 1982, Bangalore reported 32.4 new cases of cervical cancer in women per 100,000 population every year. The number dipped to 27.2 in 1991, 17 in 2001 and 18.2 in 2005.
Delhi, whose records are available from 1988, saw 25.9 new cases of cervical cancer per 100,000 population the same year. It then dipped to 19.1 in 1998 and then to 18.9 in 2005. Mumbai, which recorded 17.9 new cases of cervical cancer per 100,000 population in 1982, recorded 12.7 new cases in 2005.
Chennai recorded a fall of almost 50% in cases of cervical cancer in this period of 24 years. In 1982, Chennai recorded 41 cases per 100,000 population; nearly a decade later, in 1991, Chennai’s figure of new cases dipped to 33.4. In 2005, new cases fell further to 22 per 100,000 population. Caused by the Human Papiloma Virus, cervical cancer is often called the poor woman’s disease.

source; The Times of India 6-08-2009