An epidemiologic study of lifestyle of cancer patients presenting at National Hospital and Cancer Research Centre Pvt. Ltd., Jawalakhel, Nepal.

Abstract

e12572 Background: Nepal being one of the economically challenged developing countries has been lagging behind in all healthcare facilities. Cancer is now emerging as a major Non-communicable (NCD) disease accounting for 9% of all NCDs. Lack of preventive measures, screening and awareness programme is hindrance in the early diagnosis. Hence, we aimed to study the epidemiological variables of various cancers so that risk factors can be identified. Methods: A Prospective, observational, cross sectional study was conducted from July 2012 to December 2012 for a period of six months. All patients with histological diagnosis of cancer attending the National Hospital and Cancer Research Centre were enrolled. A Questionnaire was formed in English and patients were asked to answer the questionnaire. Results: Out of 142 patients diagnosed with cancer, 22 different types of cancer were noticed and the most common was lung cancer in both sex with 28% incidence followed by breast 18%, gynecological cancer 15%, colorectal 9%, hepatobillary 9%, gastrointestinal 8%, lymphoma 6%, Head and neck 4%. Out of them, 61% were females and 39% were males and 96% of patient were married. The most common age group at diagnosis was 41-60 years and comprised of 42% of total. About 37% of the patient earned their living by agriculture. About 44% of the patient has annual income of over USD 2500. The most common ethnic group with cancer was identified as Newar with 48% prevalence of cancer. About 36% of the patients were illiterate, 20% are literate. Total of 51% of the patient were smoker, 19% are taking alcohol till recently and 27% consume alcohol occasionally. Only 9% of the patient are vegetarian and the 91% non-vegetarian group mostly eat red meat. Significant number (64%) of the patient is consuming the commercial, canned food. Very few patients are aware of exercise (22%) and meditation (11%). Conclusions: This is a single institution study and with lots of limitation. However, this can be used to find risk factors associated with our ethnic and cultural variation and thus a multicentric study is advisable to formulate National level preventive and screening programme.