Cancer causes 9.5 percent deaths in Northeast, the highest in India according to the World Health Organization in its 2018 profile, said Dr. A Dkhar, Joint Director, health services. He said that non-communicable diseases accounted for 58.8 percent of the total deaths in the north-eastern region.
This was published in the report, "Monitoring Survey of Cancer Risk Factors and Health System Response in Meghalaya, 2021-22, which was virtually released on Friday.
The event was convened by the staff of Population-Based Cancer Registry (PBCR), Meghalaya, Civil Hospital, Shillong in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), Bengaluru, at the main secretariat building.
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Dr. Dkhar also highlighted the fact that cancer is among the top five leading causes of death in Meghalaya.
The key finding of the survey report highlighted that there is a high prevalence of tobacco consumption in Meghalaya and the current percentage of tobacco consumption stands at 52.5. The trend in the age of early initiation of tobacco is 19.2 years.
The report also highlighted the usage of betel products, which has been observed to cause oral submucous fibrosis, a pre-cancerous condition that can progress to oral cancer.
The report further stated that currently, the consumption of non-tobacco betel products among respondents was 72.7 percent of which areca nut consumption was the highest. It further stated that the main age of early initiation of alcohol use was 21 years and 10 percent of the respondents were engaged in heavy episodic drinking.
