Incidence, mortality and survival in cancer of the cervix in Bangalore, India.

Cancer of the cervix is the most common cancer among women in India, constituting between one-sixth to one-half of all female cancers with an age-adjusted incidence rate ranging from 19.4 to 43.5 per 100,000 in the registries under the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP) (Annual Reports, NCRP, ICMR). It has been estimated that 100,000 new cases of cancer of the cervix occur in India every year, and 70% or more of these are Stage III or higher at diagnosis. However, the incidence of cancer of the cervix as suggested in this report appears to be on the decline in Bangalore. Besides incidence and clinical stage at presentation knowledge of survival is essential to complete the picture of establishing baseline indicators to monitor and evaluate cancer control programmes. Survival analysis was carried out in 2121 patients diagnosed during 1982-89 in the population of Bangalore, India. The observed 5 year survival was 34.4% and the relative survival 38.3%. Clinical stage at presentation was the single most important variable in predicting survival. The 5 year observed survival for stage I disease was 63.3%, for stage II 44.0%, for stage III 30.3% and for stage IV 5.7%.