National cancer registry of Pakistan: First comprehensive report of cancer statistics 2015-2019

Authors

• Aamer Ikram, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Shahid Pervez, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
• Muhammad Tahir Khadim, Air University, Islamabad
• Muhammad Sohaib, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Cancer Registry, Islamabad
• Hafeez Uddin, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Cancer Registry, Rawalpindi
• Farhana Badar, Punjab Cancer Registry, Lahore
• Ahmed Ijaz Masood, Nishtar Medical University Hospital Cancer Registry, Multan
• Zafar I. A. Khattak, Shifa International Hospital Islamabad Cancer Registry, Islamabad
• Saima Naz, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Tayyaba Rahat, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Nighat Murad, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Farah Naz Memon, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Sumera Abid, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Faiza Bashir, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Ibrar Rafique, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Muhammad Ayaz Mustafa, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Roshan Kumar, National Institutes of Health, Islamabad
• Aisha Shafiq, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Cancer Registry, Islamabad

Document Type

Article

Department

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Abstract

Objective: To compile a comprehensive national cancer registry report of Pakistan by merging and analysing cancer registration data received from major functional cancer registries in various parts of Pakistan.
Study Design: Observational study.
Place and Duration of the Study: Health Research Institute (HRI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Islamabad, from 2015-2019.
Methodology: Data from major cancer registries which included ‘Punjab Cancer Registry (PCR), ‘Karachi Cancer Registry (KCR)’, ‘Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Cancer Registry’, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) Cancer Registry, Nishtar Medical University Hospital Multan (NMH), and Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad (SIH) registries were pooled, cleared, and analysed at HRI.
Results: A total of 269,707 cancer cases were analysed. Gender-wise 46.7% were males and 53.61% were females. As per province-wise distribution, 45.13% of cases were from Punjab, 26.83% from Sindh, 16.46% from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and 3.52% from Baluchistan. Both genders combined, ‘breast cancer’ 57633 (21.4%) was the most common cancer. In males, the top-5 cancers in order of frequency/percenatages were ‘oral’ 14477 (11.6%), ‘liver’ 8398 (6.73%), colorectal 8024 (6.43%), ‘lung’ 7547 (6.05%) and ‘prostate’ 7322 (5.87% cancers). In females, causes of the top-5-cancers included ‘breast’ 56250 (38.8%), ‘ovary’ 8823 (6.09%), ‘oral’ 7195 (4.97%), ‘cervix’ 6043 (4.17%), and ‘colorectal’ 4860 (3.36%) cancers. In children ‘Leukemia’ 1626 (14.50%) and in adolescents ‘Bone’ 880 (14%) were the leading malignancies.
Conclusion: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in females touching epidemic proportions while ‘oral cancer’ which is the leading cancer in males ranks third in frequency in females. Like ‘oral cancer’ which shows a strong correlation with chewing, other common cancers in Pakistan including liver cancer, lung cancer, and cervical cancer are also largely preventable as showed a strong correlation with hepatitis B and C, smoking, and high-risk human papillomavirus.

Publication (Name of Journal)

Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan

DOI

10.29271/jcpsp.2023.06.625

Recommended Citation

Ikram, A., Pervez, S., Khadim, M. T., Sohaib, M., Uddin, H., Badar, F., Masood, A. I., Khattak, Z. I., Naz, S., Rahat, T., Murad, N., Memon, F. N., Abid, S., Bashir, F., Rafique, I., Mustafa, M. A., Kumar, R., Shafiq, A. (2023). National cancer registry of Pakistan: First comprehensive report of cancer statistics 2015-2019. Journal of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, 33(6), 625-632.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_fhs_mc_pathol_microbiol/1725