ABSTRACT
Background: Cancers remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. In all major institutions,admissions due to cancers contribute to a large percentage of the inpatient deaths. The objectives of the study were to find out the pattern of deaths caused by cancers in a tertiary level care hospital over a 5 year period and also to find the admission pattern of cancers at the institution. Methods: This was a retrospective study, conducted on patients admitted to all the wards of Government Medical College, Trivandrum, over a 5 year period. The medical records of patients admitted with various cancers were analyzed and the corresponding mortality data were collected. Results: Of the 1545 deaths due to cancers over this 5 year period, the maximum deaths were seen in patients with cancer of the lung, followed by the liver, stomach and breast. In males, cancers of lung, larynx and stomach formed the major bulk of admissions while in the females, breast, ovary and rectum were the most common sites. Conclusion: As per the present study, it is concluded that cancer of the lung forms the major bulk of deaths from cancers in both genders in our institution. Cancer of lung in males and breast in females form the major bulk of morbidity in our population. It is very important to audit mortality data on a regular basis as this can have implications on cancer epidemiology reporting and may positively lead to changes in health policies by the governments