Abstract:
Cancer is worldwide recognized as an uncontrollable, incurable and fatal
disease, caused by the spread of abnormal cells. The main objective of this
study which has been conducted as a collaborative research with National
Cancer Control Program (NCCP) is to analyze the characteristics of the age
variation and regional patterns of cancer incidences in Sri Lanka.
Information on newly diagnosed cancer patients was obtained from the
National Cancer Registry (NCR) maintained by National Cancer Control
Program (NCCP), Sri Lanka for the years 2005 and 2006. Age Standardized
Rates (ASR) of incidence and Estimated Annual Percentage Change
(EAPC) were calculated for the period 2005 - 2006. An overall increase in
incidence rate was observed from the analysis. The uighcct ar.nua1 rate of
cancer incidence was observed for males and females of the age group 65 -
69. Further, the number of incidences peaked for the range 50 - 59 for both
genders. Moreover, geographic variation in age-adjusted incident rates
among males and females were observed using SatScan datamining tool. It
is identified that among 25 districts, Breast and Cervical Cancer are the
mostly distributed cancer types among females while Bronchus Cancer and
Lung Cancer are mostly distributed among males. Monitoring the trends
and regional variations of cancer incidence supports the implementation and
evaluation of regional education interventions which could increase the
awareness of cancer symptoms.
