High cancer cases and late-stage diagnosis worrying, says DG

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of new cancer cases in Malaysia went up by 11.3% over two five-year-periods, according to the National Cancer Registry Report 2012–2016.

A total of 115,238 new cases (44.7% among males and 55.3% females) were recorded from 2012 to 2016, versus 103,507 from 2007 to 2011.

Put in another way, the cancer incidence rate was 86 cases for every 100,000 males versus 102 cases for every 100,000 females.

The top 10 most common cancers for 2012-2016 were breast, colorectal, lung, lymphoma, nasopharynx, leukaemia, prostate, liver, cervix and ovaries, said the report released by the Health Ministry’s National Cancer Institute yesterday.

Among males, the most common cancer is colorectal, followed by lungs and prostate, and among females, it is breast followed by colorectal and cervix.

The most common cancers detected among children up to the age of 14 were leukaemia and spinal cord system cancers, while lymphoma is more common among those aged from 15 to 24 years.

Cancer is the second highest cause of death in Malaysia and in the world.

In Malaysia, cancer resulted in 16,000 deaths last year and in the world, 9.6 million deaths were reported last year.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the main purpose of the report was to monitor the trend of cases and the burden of cancer in Malaysia for a period of 10 years.

“With a high number of deaths caused by cancer, the latest information on cancer burden in the population is much needed, ” he said in a statement yesterday.

He pointed out that late cases reported – stages 3 and 4 – were found to have increased from 58.7% for 2007-2011, to 63.7% for 2012-2016.

“The findings is worrying because the Malaysian Study on Cancer Survival published last October showed that the later the cancer is detected, the lower the survival rate is.

“As such, the cooperation of various parties are needed to identify how this can be improved to increase the society’s awareness level and access to early screening and treatment, ” he said.

Overall, the report showed an increase in the cancer burden in the Malaysian population, and the information could be used for planning and evaluating cancer control and prevention programmes, he said.

“The good news is that the rate of cervix cancer has gone down drastically, from eight to six cases per 100,000 females here, ” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham suggested that the drop in numbers could be the result of early screening campaigns through pap smears, which are provided in all government facilities.

From an ethnic perspective, cancer was more common among the Chinese, followed by the Malays and Indians.

For every 100,000 Chinese, 106 males and 117 females had cancers, while the corresponding numbers for Malays and Indians were 74 and 91, and 67 and 107.

However, when compared with the first report (2007-2011), there is a drop in incidence rate among the Chinese and Indians, while there is an increase among the Malays.

The full report can be read at nci.moh.gov.my.