This chapter gives a summary of the incidence rates of leading sites of cancer in the population based cancer registries (PBCRs) both under the NCRP and others.

              The PBCRs under the NCRP include those at Bangalore, Barshi, Bhopal, Chennai (Madras), Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay). As an outcome of the cancer atlas project, under the auspices of the NCRP-ICMR, six PBCRs have commenced functioning since January 2003. These are in Aizawl (covering Mizoram state), Dibrugarh (covering Dibrugarh district), Gangtok (covering Sikkim state), Guwahati (covering Kamrup district), Imphal (covering Manipur state) and in Silchar covering Silchar town. A PBCR has also been started at Ahmedabad to cover Ahmedabad rural district but no results are as yet available. The other PBCRs comprise those at Ahmedabad (urban), Ambillikai (rural), Aurangabad (urban), Karunagappally (urban-cum-rural), Kolkata (urban), Nagpur (urban), Pune (urban) and Thiruvananthapuram (urban-cum-rural).

              The overall profile consisting of the `write-up' of the PBCRs/centres with PBCRs, is given in Chapter 7. The incidence rates and bar charts depicting the leading sites of cancer are given below.

Incidence Rates

              Cancer incidence refers to the number of new cases of cancer seen in the population of a defined geographic area over a definite period of time. Usually the rate is calculated per 100,000 population. The period of time is generally for one year and when data is available for more than one calendar year the average annual rates are calculated.

              The crude incidence rate refers to the number of new cases of cancer that occur in the total population of that area per year per 100,000 persons. The age adjusted incidence rate of cancer also denoted as the age standardised incidence rate, means that the rate is adjusted to the five-year age population distribution of the world standard population.

              The definitions and details of these calculations are given in the Appendix II.

              Table 3.1 gives the average annual crude (CR) and age adjusted incidence rates (AAR) per 100,000 population in these PBCRs during the time period indicated in parentheses. Delhi PBCR showed the highest AAR, in both males and females. The registry at Barshi recorded the lowest AAR in both males and females. For the PBCRs under NCRP the period (calender years), is 1997-99 and for the others 1993-97 (Parkin et. al, 2002) except Kolkata (Sen et al, 2002), where it is 1998-99.

International Comparisons of AAR

              Figure 3.1 gives the international comparison of AAR for all sites in males and females. The figure shows the highest and lowest AAR in all the continents, viz., Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Europe, North America and Oceania (Parkin et al, 2002). Besides, the rates of Indians in Singapore are compared with that of the PBCRs in India.