Cancer Cases Among Women On the Rise: Govt

There has been a spike in cancer cases among women over recent years with breast cancer being of particular concern as it is found to be increasing in both urban and rural areas, the government said. Rise in cancer cases is due to a larger ageing population, unhealthy lifestyle, use of tobacco and tobacco products, etc., it added.

Citing an ICMR report on 'Time Trends in Cancer Incidence Rate: 1982-2010', Health Minister JP Nadda told Parliament that "the Age Adjusted Incidence rates (AAR) show breast cancer is increasing in both urban and rural registries whereas cervical cancer is decreasing or remains static in both urban and rural registries".

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, he further said that a total of 5,47,850 cancer cases were reported among women in 2012 followed by 5,64,619 in 2013, 5,81,945 in 2014 and 5,99,847 in 2015. The cases of breast cancer among women was reported to be 91,240 in 2012, 94,208 in 2013, 97,328 in 2014 and 1,00,611 in 2015 while cases of cervical cancer over the same period was 91,694, 92,731, 93,786 and 94,857.

"The increase in the number of cancer cases in the country may be attributed to larger number of ageing population, unhealthy lifestyle, use of tobacco and tobacco products, unhealthy diet, better diagnostic facilities etc," he said.