Survey of epidemilogic status and incidence rates of cancers in the patients above 15 years old in Kurdistan province

At the present time, cancer is among the first three causes of death in developed countries and also in Iran. Considering different distribution of different types of cancers in the world and their significance in regard to morbidity and mortality, diagnosis of different kinds of cancers will be the first step in controlling these disorders. By proper planning, we can reduce the incidence rate of all types of cancers. This survey deals with epidemiological study of cancers in Kurdistan province. This was a descriptive study. Data were obtained from cancer registration system, which is a national program. In this system the data of all types of cancers, diagnosed in pathological centers, were collected and entered into the national soft ware program. Different types of cancers were encoded on the basis of ICD_O2. In this study 1294 cases of different types of cancers were collected from pathologic diagnostic centers in Kurdistan province in a period of 2 years (2003-2004). In this survey the overall incidence rate of all types of cancer in 2003 and 2004, was 60 and 66.9 in 100000 people. 62% of cases were male and 38% female. Generally, the most common cancers in both sexes, were those of skin (22.8%), stomach (20.5%), esophagus (12.8%), urinary bladder (7.5%) and lung and bronchus (4.9%). The most common cancers in male patients, belonged to stomach, skin, esophagus, bladder, lung, prostate, colorectal; and in female patients, cancers of skin, esophagus, stomach, breast and colorectal carcinoma were the most frequent types, respectively. The highest incidence rate of cancers had occurred in the patients who were older than 75 years. Histopathologically the most common cancers of skin, stomach and esophagus were basal cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma respectively. skin cancers were the most common cancers in Kurdistan province. But the total number of cases of cancers of all parts of Gastro-intestinal tract, exceeded those of all other systems. In Females, opposed to males, esophageal cancer was more common than stomach cancer. Histopathologically, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of different cancers in Kurdistan province, in comparison to other parts of the country. The epidemiologic profile of cancers in Kurdistan province is different from other parts of our country, which requires more investigation.