Press Release Tobacco major cause of cancer deaths, research shows

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 2: Health experts in Kerala are hoping that a nationwide cancer mortality study which underscores the massive health burden of tobacco will galvanise the state and central governments into action and prevent hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths every year. Tobacco use is estimated to have caused nearly 120,000 deaths across India in 2010, according to research carried out by the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research (CGHR) in partnership with Mumbais Tata Memorial Hospital. Nearly 600,000 Indians die of cancer every year over seven in 10 deaths (71%) taking place in the 3069 age group, the most productive period of a persons life, says the report published in the latest issue of the Lancet medical journal. DEADLY TOBACCO Within this age group, tobacco-related cancers (mainly oral, pharyngeal and lung cancers) accounted for 42% of cancer deaths in men and over 18% in women. Infection-related cancers were responsible for nearly 20% of the total cancer fatalities in men and 37% in women of working age. Three of the most fatal cancers in the 30-69 age group were oral (23%), stomach (13%) and lung (11%) cancers among men and cervical (17%), stomach (14%) and breast (10%) cancers among women. The researchers also found that twice as many people died from oral cancer as lung cancer a finding they attributed in part to the widespread use of chewing tobacco by both men and women in India. The number of oral cancers was more than twice the number of lung cancers in individuals aged 30 69 years, indicating that the range of fatal cancers caused by tobacco in India differs substantially from that in high-income countries, the authors wrote. One of the most pertinent findings of the study, therefore, is that the majority of cancer fatalities in India are avoidable. Tobacco-related lung and oral cancers can be prevented, as can infection-linked cervical cancer, while early diagnosis and intervention can save lives lost to treatable cancers. This landmark study suggests that significant social and economic gains could be achieved by effective cancer prevention and early detection strategies. These should include tobacco control particularly through higher taxation of tobacco products, vaccination against hepatitis B, cervical cancer screening and early detection of oral and breast cancer, said Dr Paul Sebastian, Director, Regional Cancer Centre. Such a strategy would be able to reduce cancer death significantly, he added.

Saikripa, 289, PTP Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram 695 038, Kerala || T: 0471-2361026 || E: tobaccofreekerala@gmail.com ||

Dr Satheesan Balasubramanian, Director of the Thalassery-based Malabar Cancer Centre (MCC), believes that in order to prevent tobacco-related cancer mortalities in working age, it is vital that antitobacco messages target youngsters. The initiation of tobacco use begins during adolescence. Any preventive strategy in tobacco control should focus on schoolchildren, he said. A recent school-based tobacco prevalence study conducted at MCC points out that 9.85 %of schoolchildren use tobacco and 33.16%of schoolchildren report smoking habits among their family members. WORRYING FINDINGS Researchers claim this is the first nationally representative cancer mortality study in the country. Previous such studies were mostly based on data from cancer registries that overwhelmingly represented urban populations, they said. The new findings are based on the analysis of data from the ongoing Million Death Study (MDS) led by the Office of the Registrar General of India. The latest research, led by Professor Prabhat Jha, Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michaels Hospital and University of Toronto, Canada and colleagues in India and worldwide, assessed the cause of deaths in 1.1 million nationally representative homes between 2001 and 2003. A total of 122,429 deaths occurred over the study period, 7,137 of which were due to cancer. The figures correspond to 556,400 national cancer deaths in India in 2010 395,400 (71%) of these occurring in people aged 3069 years (200,100 men and 195,300 women). The findings also overturn the perception that cancer is rich/educated mans disease with the incidence of age-standardised cancer mortality rates per 100,000 twice as high in the least educated adults (106.6 in men and 106.7 in women ) as in the most educated (45.7 in men and 43.4 in women). The cancer mortality rates were similar in rural (men 956 and women 966) and urban areas (men 1024 and women 912), but showed marked variation between the states. The study noted that a 30-year old man in northeast India had the highest chance (112%) of dying from cancer before 70 years of age. By contrast, the risk was less than 3% for men in the adjacent states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha in eastern India. For women, the highest risk (60%) of dying from cancer before 70 years of age was in the northeast states. Kerala had among the highest age standardised cancer mortality rates per 100,000 for men in the 3069 age group (158.5 for all cancers and 53.9 for tobacco-related cancers). The cumulative risk for a man dying from cancer in Kerala before the age of 70 was estimated at 7.6% - the third highest after the Northeastern states and Assam.

Saikripa, 289, PTP Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram 695 038, Kerala || T: 0471-2361026 || E: tobaccofreekerala@gmail.com ||

Among women in Kerala the age standardised cancer mortality rates per 100,000 was measured at 90.3 for all cancers, 16.8 for tobacco-related cancers and 11.1 for cervical cancer, with the cumulative risk estimated at 4.3%. The study also found that the when compared to high income countries such as the US and the UK, the rates of cancer deaths in India are about 40% lower in adult men and 30% lower in women. But the researchers indicate the gap is likely to narrow in the future as age-specific smoking rates increase. Prevention of tobacco-related and cervical cancers and earlier detection of treatable cancers would reduce cancer deaths in India, particularly in the rural areas that are underserved by cancer services. The substantial variation in cancer rates in India suggests other risk factors or causative agents that remain to be discovered, the authors conclude. ENDS

Saikripa, 289, PTP Nagar, Thiruvananthapuram 695 038, Kerala || T: 0471-2361026 || E: tobaccofreekerala@gmail.com ||