Incidence of cancer in a rural registry in India-Ratnagiri, Maharashtra

Abstract

The objective of this study was to elucidate the various challenges in establishing cancer registry and further provide inputs to commission infrastructure for cancer treatment, in this rural setup. Population of Ratnagiri district is covered in its entirety. Registry data for the year 2015 - 2016 is analyzed. Population-Based Cancer Registry staff has visited various hospitals, pathology laboratories, radiological centers, panchayats, local physicians, anganwadi, primary health-care centers, etc., to collect the information. An in-house software was developed in visual basic with DB platform for data entry, validation checks and MS-Office Excel and SPSS Ver 21 were used for analysis. Cancer incidence rate (age-adjusted incidence rate ) of Ratnagiri district is 39.1 and 39.6/100,000 for male and female, respectively, and is in comparison with other rural Indian registries. In males, mouth cancer and breast cancer in females were leading site of cancer. Results of Ratnagiri registry are valuable for cancer control activities.