An epidemiological study of malignancies in Jammu province, India: A retrospective study (1999-2003)

Research Question: -To Study the magnitude, pattern and inter district variation of Malignancies in different regions of Jammu Province from January 1999 to Dec. 2003. Setting : - Entire Population of Jammu Province. Study Design: - A Hospital based retrospective study. Methodology: -The study was carried out retrospectively from January 1999 to December 2003. The year wise data was collected from the medical case files maintained year wise in the Department of Radiotherapy and medical record section of the associated hospitals. All the new cases from Jammu province reporting for the first time in the five year time period were included. Only the primary tumors were recorded. In case of multiple primary cancer in same person they were all counted as new. Results: : - The total of 4507 new cases from Jammu province were registered in five year time period. Maximum cases 2541 (56.37%) were from Jammu District. Among males from Kathua, Jammu, Doda , Udhampur and Rajouri Respiratory system and Intrathoracic organs were at the top (40.40%, 37.47%, 37.25%, 36.97% and 33.74% resp.). Female Genital organs followed by Breast cancer were the leading site in female patients from Kathua and Jammu District (41.31% and 16.90% for Kathua and 33.39% and 18.41% for Jammu. Conclusion : -The leading Site of Malignancies among Male and Females varied in different districts of Jammu province. This could be attributed to various cultural dietary and environmental factors