Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Central Myanmar: Report of Nay Pyi Taw Population-Based Cancer Registry

Cancer is a major public health problem in Myanmar, and cancer registration activities are currently underway through both hospital-based and population-based approaches. So far, there are no population-based cancer incidence and mortality estimates in the country.

According to the 2014 census, the total population of Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory was 1,160,242 within the area of 70,571 km2. Nay Pyi Taw Cancer Registry team collected data of new cancer cases both actively and passively from all data sources in the region. The data were registered, updated, cross-checked, quality-assured, and analyzed in CanReg5. The results were presented as the number of cases by site, sex, and age, cumulative risk (CR), crude rate, age-specific, and age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) per 100,000.

Total 5,952 new cancer cases and 1874 cancer deaths were recorded among the population of the Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory between 2013 and 2017. The age-standardized incidence rate for all cancer sites excluding non-melanoma skin cancers in males was 125.9 and 107.3 for females. For both sexes combined, the most common cancers were lung (14%), breast (11.4%), liver (10.2%), mouth and pharynx (8.5%), and stomach cancers (7.8%). In males, the most common were lung (18.1%), liver (14.8%), mouth and pharynx (13%), stomach (8.9%) and colon, rectum, and anus (7.4%) cancers. In females, these were breast (21.2%), cervix (13.0%), lung (10.3%), stomach (6.9%) and colon, rectum, and anus (6.3%) cancers. The most common cancer deaths were caused by liver (20.8%), lung (15.7%), mouth and pharynx (9.3%), stomach (7.5%), and Colon, rectum, and anus (6.8%) cancers.

The findings in this study are salient and have potential to serve as important information for the National Cancer Control Program to formulate prevention and control strategies.