Deepak Mittal1 , Shashi Prabha Tomar2 , Rajesh Tiwari3
BACKGROUND In India, around 2.0 – 2.5 million people are living with one or another kind of cancer menace and above 7 – 8 lakhs new cases added every year to the existing burden.1 Most of the data are from developed countries where the social - demographic and epidemiological scenarios are different from developing countries. Hence it is more than essential to study the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of various cancers patients attending Cancer Hospital in NCBMCH Jabalpur Madhya Pradesh. METHODS A descriptive cross-sectional, hospital-based study was conducted in NSCB MCH Jabalpur among 340 cancer patients attending the outpatient department of the cancer hospital. A predesigned, semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess the socio-demographic profile and burden on caregivers of cancer patients. RESULTS The overall most common site of cancer was Oral cancer (26.4 %), followed by colorectal cancers. The most common substance abuse was tobacco chewing (27.3 %). Most of the individuals were in the age group 45-59 (39.4 %) followed by age group 60 and above (30.5 %). Among males, maximum patients had oral cancer (33.7 %) and among females (carcinoma cervix (39.9 %). CONCLUSIONS Cancer was found to be more prevalent among rural males and the mean age of presentation 50.85 ± 13. 5 years.
