Materia Medica Malaysiana

Men more prone to lung cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cancer experienced by men in the country, latest statistics from the National Cancer Registry show.
Females are more prone to breast cancer.
Lung cancer accounts for 13.8 per cent of cancer cases among men. Other cancers common among men are nasopharynx (8.8 per cent), colon (7.6 per cent) and leukaemia (7.1 per cent),
For women, breast cancer accounts for 31 per cent of cases while the other types are cervix, ovary and uterus cancers. These figures are part of the second report from the registry.
Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Latiff Ahmad said statistics were crucial as they could help identify the funding for cancer treatments and research.
"We have 40,000 cancer patients and their treatment costs are heavily subsidised," he said after launching the Cancer Incidence in Malaysia Report at Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
Lung and breast cancers were predominant among the older age group (50 years and above).
For those below 15, the most frequent cancer is leukaemia, brain, lymphoma and cancers of the connective tissue and kidney.
The report also showed there was a variation of cancer incidence among races. The crude incidence rate for cancers for Chinese males and females were 169.2 and 217.7 per 100,000 of the population respectively.
This was higher compared to Malays and Indians who recorded a rate of 60.6 and 79 for Malay males and females while Indian males and females accounted for 85.7 and 147.2 per 100,000 of the population respectively.