Srinagar: A silent killer is lurking in Kashmir homes.
More than 26000 new cases of cancer have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir in the last two years.
Data available with The Kashmir Monitor reveal that during the last two years, 26,366 new cases of cancer have been reported in the union territory.
It includes 13012 cases in 2020 and 13354 cancer cases during the current year so far.
Data suggests that a total of 51,358 cases have been detected in the union territory since 2018 with 2021 topping the list.
According to the data, 12344 cases were detected in 2018. The following year 12675 cancer cases were detected in Jammu and Kashmir.
A total of 21,016 persons have died due to cancer since 2018 in Jammu and Kashmir.
In 2018, 6824 cancer patients were reported to have died in Jammu and Kashmir. The deaths rose to 7003 in 2019. In 2020, fatalities due to cancer surged to 7189.
As per a study titled `Epidemiology of Cancers in Kashmir, India: An Analysis of Hospital Data’ by doctors Mariya A Qurieshi, S M Salim Khan, Muneer A Masoodi, and others, stomach cases was the most prevalent in Kashmir. It accounted for 25.2 percent of the total cases.
The research suggested that gastric cancer was followed by colorectal cancer (16.4%) and lung cancer (13.2%) among males.
“For females, colorectal cancer (16.8%), breast cancer (16.1%), and stomach cancer (10.4%) were the most frequently reported cancers in order of frequency. Tobacco-related cancers contributed to more than three-fourths of cancers among men and more than half of cancers for women,” the study said.
Dr. Faisal Guru, Pediatric Oncologist, SKIMS Soura told The Kashmir Monitor that the research suggests that about 70% of your lifetime risk of cancer is within one’s power to change.
“The patients are often told about the increased risk of diabetes and heart disease from being overweight or obese — but we rarely tell them that obesity also increases their cancer risk. As health experts, we have a lot of work to do to educate people on the specific steps they can take to prevent cancer in their own lives,” he said.
