In what appears to be an alarming picture for the Health authorizes in J&K , the State Cancer Institute at the Government Medical College Jammu has documented 9,427 cancer cases over a five-year period, with the majority of the patients reporting to the hospital only after the disease had advanced to Stage III or Stage IV.
According to the latest Hospital-Based Cancer Registry data from 2020 to 2024, 5,351 patients were men and 4,076 women, placing the male-to-female ratio at 1.31:1, and suggesting a higher cancer burden among males in the region.Lung cancer emerged as the most common malignancy with 1,338 cases, followed by head and neck cancers (1,005), breast (704), hepatobiliary (681), genito-urinary (654), hematological cancers (653), esophageal (519), oral cancers (519), and cervical cancer (494).
Other major cancers included intestinal (456), cancers of unknown primary or CUPs (410), ovarian (354), lymphoma (305), stomach (279), brain (263), prostate (233) and bone and soft-tissue cancers (210), in addition to 186 other women’s cancers, 111 skin cancers, and 53 classified as other types, the data shows.
Jammu district accounted for the highest number of cases at 3,671, followed by Udhampur (943), Kathua (855), Doda (694), Rajouri (675), Samba (580), Reasi (532), Poonch (424), Kishtwar (292), and Ramban (222). Another 539 patients were from outside the Jammu division.Age-wise data shows 4,234 cases in the 60–80 year age group -- the highest among all categories -- while 3,669 cases were reported in the 40–60 year age group. A total of 964 patients were aged 20–40, 456 were above 80, and 102 were children and adolescents aged 0–20.
Staging data shows an alarming trend, with 4,029 patients diagnosed in Stage IV and 2,744 in Stage III, indicating that a majority of patients reached the hospital only after the disease had progressed to advanced stages. Another 1,958 cases were detected in Stage II, and 696 in Stage I.
Meanwhile, in Kashmir the scene is no less worrying. Cancer cases are on the rise in Kashmir as well, with experts pointing to lifestyle, dietary changes, and environmental factors as potential causes. Contributing factors include the increased use of pesticides and artificial colorings in food, a higher intake of fast food, and changes in diet and lifestyle, such as late marriages and obesity. Some studies indicate that gastric cancer is the most common cancer in males, while breast cancer is the most common in females.
Follow us
