Pakistan has the highest Cancer rate in Asia

[ArsalanKhan21]

Among Asian countries, Pakistan has the highest rates of breast and ovarian cancer. The genetic findings show that BRCA mutation (BRCA1 and BRCA2) mutations account for a substantial proportion of hereditary breast/ovarian cancer and early-onset breast and ovarian cancer cases in Pakistan.Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Pakistan as different studies show it kills nearly 40,000 women every year. According to World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer rates are getting worse and it is not sparing even younger age group.

Pakistan has highest incidence of breast cancer in Asia - Newspaper - DAWN.COM

Pakistan has highest incidence of breast cancer in Asia
Oct 25, 2014


RAWALPINDI: The Holy Family Hospital has had a breast cancer clinic in Surgical Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) Unit 1.

Rawalpindi Medical College Principal and Allied Hospital Chief Executive Prof. Dr. Mohammad Umar inaugurated the Clinic on Friday.

Prof. Mohammad Idrees, Dr Jahangir Sarwar and other faculty members, students, nursing and paramedical staff were present on the occasion.

The RMC principal said in Asia Pakistan had the highest incidence of breast cancer. One in 8th women in Pakistan faces breast cancer during her life, he added.

“Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Pakistan as different studies show it kills nearly 40,000 women every year. According to World Health Organisation, breast cancer rates are getting worse and it is not sparing even younger age group,” he said.

“Women in the developing countries, like Pakistan tend to die at greater rates than in more developed countries because the disease is generally detected when it is in its advance stages,” he said.

Prof Bushra Ahmed said that in Pakistani society there were multiple factors associated with late detection of the disease.

HFH gets breast cancer clinic
One of them is social setup, where women are reluctant to undergo their medical checkup and expressing their medical issues. If women are being diagnosed with breast cancer, they don’t even share the news with their family members, he said.

Prof. Mohammad Idrees said Surgical Unit-1 was general surgery department in tertiary care hospital which was affiliated with Rawalpindi Medical College. It has a busy OPD, 24 hours emergency service along with a 60-bed indoor facility.

“We deal with a wide range of general surgery cases including significant number of patients with breast diseases,” he said.

“Keeping in view the increasing number of cases, we have established a breast clinic in the OPD which will provide the awareness regarding early detection of breast cancer, screening for breast cancer and treatment facilities for patients. Through this clinic we will be in a better position to collect reliable data regarding current situation of the disease in our society,” he said.

Prof. Fahmeeda said in our society it was considered immoral for women to go to the hospital for screenings and checkup or discuss the cancer even within their family. Most of the patients comes to hospital when the diseases is at advance stages. Initially patients ignore growing tumor in their breast.

“Many patients first go to a traditional healer and by the time they visit a reputable doctor, the disease becomes untreatable,” she said.

Dr Jahangir Sarwar said October is breast cancer awareness month internationally. We decided to celebrate it first time in Holy Family Hospital. This year our objective is to increase the awareness among general public regarding the importance of early detection.

“Our mission statement is Early Detection, Save Lives. He said that keeping in view poor outcome associated with late diagnosis of the disease, we want to help women by increasing awareness regarding early detection of breast cancer through our support services. We need to educate women about self-examination and the need to see a doctors if they feel a breast lump,” he said.

He said that breast cancer did not affect only a women but whole of the family bears the consequences in terms of social and financial impacts.

 

[macnurv]

Pakistan also have the highest Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma or Oral Cancer rate in Asia as well. We surpassed India few years back and as far as I know currently only we have one Cancer registry at JPMC, Karachi keeping a track on oral cancer.

 

[[Bregs]]

Cancer must be main enemy we should be fighting, i have faced it and its very deceptive disease

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

Cancer incidence in Karachi, Pakistan: first results from Karachi Cancer Registry. - PubMed - NCBI

Cancer incidence in Karachi, Pakistan: first results from Karachi Cancer Registry.
Bhurgri Y1, Bhurgri A, Hassan SH, Zaidi SH, Rahim A, Sankaranarayanan R, Parkin DM.
Author information
Abstract
No cancer incidence data from Pakistan have been published in the 5 decades since independence. Incidence data for the period 1995-1997 from the population of the Karachi South district (1.7 million) are presented here. A total of 4,268 new cancer cases were registered during this period: 2,160 cases in males and 2,108 cases in females. Overall, 95.3% of the incident cases were microscopically verified. The incidence rates for all cancers combined were 80.5 per 100,000 (crude) and 136.7 per 100,000 (age- standardised rates [ASR]) for males and 91.8 (crude) and 163.2 per 100,000 (ASR) for females. In males, lung cancer (ASR 20.3) was the most frequently recorded malignancy followed by oral cavity (ASR 13.8) and larynx cancer (ASR 8.6). In females, breast was the most common site of cancer, accounting for one third of female cancers (ASR 51.7), followed by oral cavity (ASR 14.1) and ovarian cancer (ASR 10.2). Karachi reports the highest incidence of breast cancer for any Asian population, except Jews in Israel. Tobacco smoking is estimated to be responsible for 40% of cancers in males and tobacco chewing for a further substantial proportion of head and neck cancers.

Institution-based cancer incidence in a local population in Pakistan: nine year data analysis. - PubMed - NCBI

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2009 Apr-Jun;10(2):227-30.
Institution-based cancer incidence in a local population in Pakistan: nine year data analysis.
Hanif M1, Zaidi P, Kamal S, Hameed A.
Author information
Abstract
At present no national level of cancer registry program exists in Pakistan and the data available from different sources, necessary for incidence, prevalence, morbidity/mortality, and etiological assessment of cancer and cancer control programs, are from hospital or institutional databases. Karachi Institute of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine (KIRAN) is a comprehensive healthcare facility for diagnosis, treatment and research of all cancers. This is a retrospective analysis of the cancer patients of both genders of all age groups to determine frequencies of different cancers presented to this Institute from 1st January 2000 to 31 December 2008. A total of 16,351 cancer patients were registered at KIRAN during the nine year period. Male cancers accounted for 48.1% and female cancers 51.8%. Some 558 (3.4%) were in children (0-15 years). The mean ages at presentation for males and females were 50-/+9.6 and 47-/+7.4 years respectively. In males the five most frequent malignancies were head and neck (32.6%), lung (15%), gastrointestinal tract (GIT) (6.9%), lymphoma (6.1%), and bone and soft tissue (4.9%). In females breast cancer was the most common cancer accounting for 38.2% followed by head and neck (15.1%), cervical (5.5%), ovarian (4.9%) and GIT cancer (4.9%) respectively. Cancer prevalence in different age groups with respect to gender and the epidemiologies of most common cancers with reference to our cultural and environmental factors and dietary habits are also discussed. Overall cancer incidence in nine years in this tertiary care cancer institution showed that head and neck cancers in males and breast cancers in females are most common, at rates almost highest in Asia. Mean age and male to female ratio in all other cancers are essentially comparable to other developing countries.

PMID:
19537889
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Free full text

 

[coffee_cup]

Very worrying development indeed.

Population must be educated properly about toxic waste, general hygienic conditions and how these impact human body.

Media can play a vital role, just as some of those religious scholars (about cleanliness etc).

 

[livingdead]

dont marry within family.. and eat less red meat..
I dont know anything else that can possibly be the reason.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

In conservative Pakistan, fighting breast cancer means fighting taboos | Toronto Star

In conservative Pakistan, fighting breast cancer means fighting taboos
One in nine women in Pakistan will face breast cancer during their life, with the country itself having the highest rate of the disease across Asia.

B.K. Bangash / AP

Breast cancer survivor and prominent Pakistani politician Fehmida Mirza, second right, speaks with guests at her residence in Islamabad, Pakistan.

By: Asif Shahzad The Associated Press, Published on Mon Jan 20 2014
ISLAMABAD—In Pakistan, a country where breast cancer kills more women than terrorist attacks, an awareness group couldn't even say the word "breast" while talking at a university about mammograms and how to check for lumps.

They had to use the euphemism "cancer of women" to discuss a disease often shrouded in social stigma in this majority Muslim nation.

One in nine women in Pakistan will face breast cancer during their life, with the country itself having the highest rate of the disease across Asia, according to the breast cancer awareness group PinkRibbon, oncologists and other aid groups.

Yet discussing it remains taboo in a conservative, Islamic culture where the word breast is associated with sexuality instead of health and many view it as immoral for women to go to the hospital for screenings or discuss it even within their family.

Now, women like breast cancer survivor and prominent Pakistani politician Fehmida Mirza and groups are trying to draw attention to the disease and break the silence surrounding it.

"There's nothing to be shy about it," Mirza told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "No woman, no woman should die of ignorance and negligence."

No national database tracks breast cancer statistics but people who combat the disease say it kills nearly 40,000 women every year in Pakistan. That's about the same number as in the U.S., though Pakistan only has 180 million residents to the U.S.'s 313 million.

With a health care system in shambles and more young women getting the disease, breast cancer rates only are expected to get worse. World Health Organization official Shahzad Aalam in Pakistan said it was difficult to determine the exact magnitude, but that the disease is rampant.

"It is the leading cancer killer among women," Aalam said.

Among Pakistani women there is very little knowledge about the disease. A study done at Rawalpindi General Hospital about breast cancer awareness among 600 women found nearly 70 per cent totally ignorant of the disease, while 88 per cent did not know about breast self-exams and 68 per cent did not understand the significance of finding a lump in the breast.

"If women are being diagnosed with breast cancer, they don't even share the news with their family members," said Omar Aftab, who heads PinkRibbon in Pakistan, which put on the university presentation where organizers couldn't even say "breast."

"So, we're trying to break these taboos," he said.

Those cultural taboos have been one of the biggest issues preventing women from seeking treatment or even knowing about the disease. During an awareness event in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, female students attending a breast cancer lecture demanded the men leave.

"It will take very long for us to discuss these issues openly," said one female student who requested anonymity because she feared her family wouldn't like her speaking about the issue.

Another challenge is Pakistan's abysmal health care sector that is starved for money, the latest technology and drugs. Oncologist Saira Hasan at Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad said most major hospitals lack a screening centre or mammogram facility. Many patients first go to a traditional healer and by the time they visit a reputable doctor, the disease is often too far advanced to treat, Hasan said.

Women in the developing world, like Pakistan, tend to die at greater rates than in more developed countries because the disease is generally detected later and health care options aren't as good.

Hasan said several factors have contributed to the rise in the disease — above all the cultural taboos. Breast cancer survivor Sameera Raja, who owns an art gallery in southern Karachi and supports women facing breast cancer, says that it has to be changed.

"You're surprised to hear how women actually sit on things," Raja said. Recalling how a woman would feel too embarrassed to talk about it even with her husband, she said: "Don't hide behind closed doors."

Unlike in the U.S. where celebrities like singer Sheryl Crow or actress Christina Applegate have freely discussed their fight with breast cancer, few such public figures have come forward in Pakistan. That's changed with Mirza, though she had to delay her treatment for three months after she was diagnosed in March 2012 to handle her work, which included how to rule on whether a criminal conviction against the serving prime minister should disqualify him from politics.

"There was lot of pressure on me, work pressure," she said. "Everybody (would) say it's an excuse I'm using to run away."

Mirza described her friends and family being shocked by the diagnosis, as the cancer is considered by many as a death sentence. But during her diagnosis and treatment, she attended international conferences, ruled on the then-prime minister's case and later ran for re-election and won while undergoing chemotherapy.

She now uses her position in parliament to advocate for women's health issues. She plans to propose a bill making it mandatory for women to have breast cancer screenings and mammograms yearly, as well as to teach girls in schools to do breast exams themselves. She also pushed the health ministry to explain why there is no national database on breast cancer deaths.

"I think the role models will have to come forward," Mirza said. "That is one reason I had to."

 

[Moon]

dont marry within family.. and eat less red meat..
I dont know anything else that can possibly be the reason.

Oral cancer can be caused by eating ghutka, a bad habit common in the poorer households, and also smoking and don't forget unhygienic masalas purchased at dirt cheap rates.

*****************************edit***********************

Basically everything can give you cancer, if you're not careful enough, from car-dashboards to exposure to radiation.

 

[ArsalanKhan21]

dont marry within family.. and eat less red meat..
I dont know anything else that can possibly be the reason.

So according to you the consanguineous marriages and the carnivorous diet causes high cancer rates in Pakistan ?

 

[senses]

That's something to ponder about, indeed breast cancer is a nightmare for every women.

 

[alpha q]

So according to you the consanguineous marriages and the carnivorous diet causes high cancer rates in Pakistan ?

Yes, according to certain researches red meat causes cancer and marrying within family increases chances of spreading it genetically.

 

[Moon]

That's something to ponder about, indeed breast cancer is a nightmare for every women.

True but we have more than just one type of cancer to worry about.....

 

[denel]

So according to you the consanguineous marriages and the carnivorous diet causes high cancer rates in Pakistan ?

It is a contributing factor pal. Stomach and breast cancers are shown to be heriditary and if there are higher incidences in either sides of the family the risk factors increase multiple times. Smoking, alcohol and high red meat consumptions are multipliers.
From what i have heard, for generations intermarriage between cousins is dangerous as recessives genes have a higher changes of coming to the front. If you look in my country - we have the highest incidence of touret's syndrome and it is within a particular gene pool - the joys of race policies. Similarly within Isreal some groups have very high genetic disorders - the cause being marriage within cousins going back multiple generations.

 

[Kolachi Punjabi]

BRCA mutation is common among semitic people ironically

 

[Echo_419]

Oral cancer can be caused by eating ghutka, a bad habit common in the poorer households, and also smoking and don't forget unhygienic masalas purchased at dirt cheap rates.

*****************************edit***********************

Basically everything can give you cancer, if you're not careful enough, from car-dashboards to exposure to radiation.

Noted & the for the massala thing didn't knew that