Geriatric cancers in India: an epidemiological and demographic overview.

This article provides an overview of aspects of the burden of cancer in the elderly, in India highlighting certain demographic and epidemiological data. In India the normal retirement age is 60 years, so the definition of the elderly, in India is considered above the age of 60 years. Information on the aging of the Indian population is based on various census figures, cancer incidence figures are taken from Mumbai registry data. Men and women aged > or = 60 years are at high risk for major cancers. Men have a risk 15 times greater risk and in women 8 times greater risk than the persons having age < 60 years. Lung and prostate cancers are most prominent cancer in men having age > or = 60 years while in women breast is the leading site followed by cervix and ovary in the same age group. Demographic and epidemiologic data characterize the aging / cancer interface. The changing demographic structures underscore the current incidence imperative for elderly; suggesting a starting demand will be made in the future requiring physician's abilities and skills to meet these needs.

Geographic variation in cancer incidence and its patterns in urban Maharashtra, 2001.

In this paper an attempt has been made to study the geographic variations in cancer incidence and its pattern in Urban Maharashtra. Data collected by Mumbai, Poona, Nagpur, and Aurangabad, Population based Cancer Registries, for the year 2001 have been utilized. The incidence patterns by sex, age, and religion has been compared between these four agglomerations. Besides this childhood cancers and tobacco related cancers for each registry are also described. Age specific cancer incidence rates show increasing trend with increasing age in all the four populations. The curves for Mumbai, Poona, Nagpur are closed together with fluctuations, indicating similarities in the rise. In all the four registries, amongst males, cancers of the lung, larynx, oesophagus, tongue and prostate while in females breast, cervix, ovary, oesophagus, mouth and leukemias occupy places in ten leading sites. The proportion of childhood cancers varies from 1.9% in females in Poona to 4.5% in males in the Nagpur populations. The proportion of tobacco related cancers varies in males from 38.9% in Poona to 54.4% in Aurangabad, where as in females from 14.1% in Nagpur to 21.7% in Aurangabad. Considerable variations was observed in the incidence of cancer of various sites in both the sexes, professing different religious faiths within this populations. The findings of this paper can be used to estimate the incidence and prevalence of cancer for future for whole Maharashtra state and studies in cancer etiology and control can be planned.

Social inequalities in cancer with special reference to South Asian countries.

There are major differences in cancer burden across socioeconomic classes, as is evident from the data for cancer incidence and mortality from Greater Mumbai, India. Changes over time are also evident and recently there has been a clear shift to increasing breast cancer particularly in well-educated women, who conversely are at much lower risk of cervical cancer. With infection-related and tobacco-related cancers, programs of prevention and early detection will yield desirable results only if it is associated with a program directed towards elimination of poverty, illiteracy and restoring social inequality. Similarly education must play a role in combatting diet-related neoplasia but here the target population may differ, requiring a specific awareness of psychological profiles.