Epidemiological profile of cancer patients attending tertiary care teaching hospital: a record based retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Cancer, the second leading cause of death worldwide is one of the most dreaded non-communicable diseases. Cancer incidence and demographic data form an important basis for cancer prevention. However, the data available through cancer registries are limited. Thus, the present study aimed to describe the epidemiological profile of cancer patients registered in our hospital.Methods: A record based retrospective study was done assessing the records of the cancer patients, admitted during the year 2017 at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. The data collected included the epidemiological information like demographic details, place distribution and the type of cancer.Results: A total of 1192 confirmed cases of cancer were studied. Among the study subjects, 1014 (50.9%) patients were male and the age group of 50-69 had the maximum percentage of cancer cases (1121 cases, 56.3%). Most cases came from western Tamil Nadu (1138 cases, 95.5%) and majority of them belonged either to lower (560 cases, 46.6%) or upper lower class (548 cases, 45.9%). The lip, oral cavity and pharynx was the type of cancer having the maximum number of cases (429 cases, 36%) and had high proportion in comparison with world level and national statistics. Nearly 57% cases presented with regional extent of disease.Conclusions: The epidemiological factors leading to high incidence of cancer should be analysed and steps towards cancer prevention should be initiated by altering the associated risk factors.