Relative incidence and molecular analysis of breast cancer in Kashmiri population

Abstract

Breast cancer is the third most common tumor in the world and represents 9% of global cancer burden. In India, breast cancer is the second common cancer in women after cervical cancer and has of late replaced cervical cancer as the leading site of cancer among women in Indian cities. Preliminary indications point towards an increasing trend in the occurrence of breast cancer amongst newlineKashmiri population. However, authentic data with regard to prevalence is almost non-existent in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to examine the epidemiological distribution of different cancer types with particular emphasis on breast cancer in the whole valley. The source of our data include cancer registry in the Department of Radiation Oncology, Sheri-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, and Department of Radiation Oncology, SMHS, Srinagar during Jan 2002 to Dec 2006. A total of 6943 cases newlineregistered between 1st January 2002 to 31st December 2006 comprised of 4345 males and 2598 females. The age standardized incidence rates were 34.9 per 100,000 for males and 24.8 per 100,000 for females. Oesophagus was the leading site of cancer in both the sexes (male ASR 11.2; female ASR 8.3) followed by newlinelung (ASR 6.5), brain (ASR 2.2), head and neck (ASR 2.2) in males and breast newline(ASR 5.2), skin (ASR 1.6) and rectum (ASR 0.95) in females. The incidence of newlinecervical cancer turned out to be surprisingly low in Kashmiri women as compared to other Indian Registries quite contrary to the pattern in rest of the country. Our studies imply that cancer incidence was significantly lower and cancer patterns were markedly different in Kashmir. The observed cancer pattern indicates that awareness campaigns, life style and dietary habit changes, tobaccocontrol measures and early detection of breast cancer are very important for newlinecancer control in this cohort of population.