Current scenario of Cancer in Dhaka City, Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is a densely populated country with a population of almost 170 million. Along with the increasing global cancer burden, the incidence of cancer in Bangladesh is also increasing at an alarming rate. According to a survey operated by NICRH (National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital) from 2005 to 2007, there were 24,847 cancer patients who attended in the outpatient ward; clearly the toll is rising for Bangladesh. In the current questioner based survey, 128 cancer patients were personally interviewed from two different hospitals in Dhaka named NICRH and Green Life Medical College and Hospital Pvt LTD. In this study cancer statistics was evaluated based on parameters like age, gender, location, distribution of cancer in primary sites, family history of cancer, mode of diagnosis, treatment received and medication prescribed to the patients. From the data obtained, the current trend of cancer and its correlation with various factors like genetics, exposure to environmental carcinogen and distribution of cancer with primary site of cancer was analyzed. According to the survey males are more likely to have cancer compared to females, since 62% of the patients surveyed were male and 38% was female which is almost 1.6 times less than that of males. A maximum of 21% of the patients were found to be from the age group of 51 to 60 years which indicates that still cancer is more prevalent among the senior population, however, incidence of cancer in young adults and children was also reported. 24.21% patients were found to have a history of at least one blood related member suffered from cancer. Respiratory tract and gastro intestinal tract cancer have highest incidence rate and these two together represents 36.8% of all primary sites of cancer listed in the survey. Significant correlation has been found between the primary site of cancer and family history of cancer with a p value ≤ 0.1. 33% of the total Respiratory tract cancer cases have been found to be related with family history. 54% of total surveyed patients had direct and chronic exposure to tobacco (Cigarette smoking), among which 13.28% of the patient had Respiratory tract cancer. Individuals spending major portion of their lifetime in cities may have higher chances to get cancer. The two largest cities of Bangladesh are Dhaka and Chittagong, 56 of 128 (42.18 %) patients were found to be from Dhaka division and 26 out of 128 (20.31%) patients were from Chittagong division. A variety of anticancer drugs were prescribed among which Etoposite, Cisplatin and 5-Fluoro Uracil was indicated in 51% of the cases. Therefore it can be concluded that this study presents the current scenario of cancer statistics in Dhaka city. But in order to confirm the findings of this research project further study must be conducted on a greater population.