LIFESTYLE ADDS TO 50-60 PC CANCER CASES, SAYS EXPERTS

WAMIL VASHISHT

Chandigarh

Sedentary lifestyle along with unbalanced diet, stress, consumption of alcohol, tobacco etc. can give rise to 50-60 per cent chances of the prevalence of cancer in a human, say the experts. The other side of the causes covers factors such as age, infections, radiation, hormones, chronic inflammations etc. Experts have stressed that the prevalence and mortality rate of cancer has witnessed a rise in Chandigarh over the last 4-5 years. As per the data received by Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), the number of cancer cases has gone up from 833 in 2013 to 879 in 2015 and the deaths due to cancer have shot up from 287 in 2013 to 351 in 2015. “ Lifestyle is a very important factor which has been the leading cause of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, chronic lung diseases and heart diseases. The risk of dying due to cancer before 75 years of age is 7.34 per cent in males and 6.28 per cent in females”, said Prof JS Thakur, Department of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, PGIMER. Over the years, breast cancer has been the most common type of cancer in the city followed by cervix cancer, whereas in males, the most prevalent type of cancer is lung cancer.

In a view to impart awareness about the rise in cancer cases and its most common causes such as sedentary lifestyle, obesity etc., PGIMER in collaboration with Tata Memorial Centre Mumbai ,world NCD federation and Health Department, UT Chandigarh along with Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab will be organising a National CME on cancer registries for cancer control on January 23. The population-based cancer registries were launched by the government as a tool for cancer control for improving the programme and policies. A total of four cancer registries had been set up which includes Chandigarh and SAS Nagar regarded as urban registries, and Sangrur and Mansa regarded as rural registries. In the country, an increasing trend in the prevalence and mortality has been witnessed with the number of people living with cancer estimated to be 22.6 lakhs. In 2018, the number of new cancer cases was 11.6 lakhs whereas almost 7.8 lakh died due to cancer.

Reported cases of cancer in Chandigarh

Year No. of cases

2013 833

2014 870

2015 879

Deaths due to Cancer

No. of deaths

2013 287

2014 345

2015 351

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