Abstract
Introduction:
Males have a higher chance of developing cancers compared with females. Etiology of cancer is multifactorial. Lifestyle, constitutional characteristics of the individual and hereditary factors can contribute to development of cancer. One third of the cancers can be prevented through lifestyle change.
Objective: To analyze male and female age standardized cancer incidence rates and average annual percentage change of incidence during the year 2005 to 2019, and to describe exposure to lifestyle risk factors among males and females in Sri Lanka.
Methodology: Data from National Cancer Registry, Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2019 were used to analyze male and female age standardized incidence rates (ASRs). Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) was analyzed for males and females separately using 4.9 Joinpoint regression software. National survey data were used to describe the risk factor exposure among males and females and tobacco, alcohol, physical inactivity, obesity, and areca-nut use were considered in this paper.
Results: During 2005-2019, ASRs among males have increased from 68.1 to 132.6 per 100,000 population while ASRs for females have increased from 73.4 to 128.8. The AAPC of ASR among males 5.2% (95% CI: 2.7-7.7, p<0.001) was significantly higher than for females3.8% (95% CI: 0.3-7.5, p=0.03). Exposure to tobacco, alcohol and chewing betel quid which contains areca-nut & tobacco was higher among males, while obesity and chewing betel quid which contains only areca nut were higher among females in Sri Lanka. Physical inactivity was similar in both sexes.
Conclusion:
The ASRs of all cancers and the AAPC showed an increase among both sexes, while the AAPC was higher among males than females.
Regarding exposure to risk factors, use of tobacco, alcohol and betel quid which contains tobacco & areca-nut was higher among males, while obesity and use of betel quid which contains only areca-nut were higher among females. Separate interventions for both sexes need to be carried out, to prevent risk factors.