New Delhi: One of the most dreaded diseases, cancer is emerging as a leading killer worldwide decimating 10 million people yearly and Indian women are no exception to it.
World Cancer Day is being observed today i.e. Feb 4 worldwide.
Every year more Indian women that men are diagnosed with cancer. Though the number of women diagnosed with cancer is more but more men die to cancer annually.
In all, 5.37 lakh Indian women got cancer in 2012 as against 4.77 lakh men, said the World Cancer Report. The same year, 3.56 lakh men died of the disease in comparison to 3.26 lakh women.
As per the data released by private insurance firm ICICI Lombard, in past four years, 62-65% of cancer related insurance claims were for women while it was only between 35-38% for men. The claims were more for cancers of the cervix and breast, which are, according to the Indian cancer registry, the leading cancer types among women.
The main reasons for the gender divide in cancer are hormones and habits.
As quoted by TOI, Dr Boman Dhabar, medical oncologist with Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai Central says, "Physiologically, women's cells are exposed to more hormones and more hormonal fluctuations, leading to an increased susceptibility of cell dysplasia (abnormality)".
Breast cancer is the most common or largest cancer in India.Dr Surendra Shastri, who heads the preventive oncology department of Tata Memorial Hospital, had another reason. "There is certainly an increase in the incidence of lifestyle-related cancers, for example breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Moreover, better awareness and detection rates have contributed to the increasing numbers of cancer in women in India."
According to age wise cancer incidence the peak period for women is 60 while for men it is 70. It is high time now that some strict actions should be taken to avoid the increasing number of this dreadful disease.
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