India among top 3 countries with highest cancer cases, deaths in Asia: Study

New Delhi: China, India, and Japan are the three leading countries in Asia in terms of the number of new cancer cases, deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), according to a study.

The findings, published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia, examined the temporal patterns of incidence, mortality, disability and risk factors of 29 cancers for 49 Asian countries from 1990 through 2019.

India emerged as the second-highest contributor to the disease burden in Asia with about 12 lakh new cancer cases and 9.3 lakh deaths in 2019.

China was the top-ranked country with 48 lakh new cases and 27 lakh deaths. Japan was the third leading country with about 9 lakh new cases and 4.4 lakh deaths.

Out of 49 countries, 15 had DALYs count of more than one million, led by China (673 lakh) and India (271 lakh), revealed the study, conducted by an international team of researchers, including experts from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur and Bathinda.

Overall, tracheal, bronchus, and lung (TBL), breast, colon and rectum cancer (CRC), stomach and non-melanoma skin cancer were mostly among the top-5 most frequent cancers in Asia in 2019 with few countries having leukemia, prostate, liver and pancreatic cancer among the top-5 cancers.

Among the 34 risk factors, smoking, alcohol consumption, and ambient particulate matter (PM) pollution remained the dominant risk factors.

In addition, high prevalence of smokeless tobacco such as khaini, gutkha, betel quid and paan masala also showed a public health concern in South Asian countries such as India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.

The study results showed that India alone accounted for 32.9 per cent of global deaths and 28.1 per cent of new cases of lip and oral cavity cancer in 2019.

As per the global adult tobacco survey (GATS), 199.4 million adults in India consumed smokeless tobacco (SMT).

Notably, more than 50 per cent of the oral cancer burden has been attributed to SMT, whose prevalence has grown in recent times in South Asia, including India.

SMT not only increases the risk of oral cancers but also enhances the risk of oesophageal and pancreatic cancer.

“With growing incidence, cancer has become a more significant public health threat in Asia, demanding urgent policy attention and guidance. Its heightened risk calls for increased cancer awareness, preventive measures, affordable early-stage detection, and cost-effective therapeutics in Asia,” said the researchers in the paper.

“The current study can serve as a useful resource for policymakers and researchers in Asia for devising interventions for cancer management and control,” they added.