DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF LYMPHOID AND HEMATOPOIETIC MALIGNANCIES IN BANGALORE, INDIA

Lymphoid and haemopoietic malignancies as a group constitute one of th e important cancers in India, as elsewhere in the world. While informa tion on incidence and mortality of these cancers, and that on survival , are available from most developed countries, there are very few repo rts describing this experience in developing ones. Population-based ca ncer registration commenced in Bangalore, India, in January 1982, unde r the auspices of the Indian Council of Medical Research. This source provides fairly complete and reliable incidence data, but, in order to obtain mortality and survival information, active follow-up involving visits of homes of patients was undertaken. Between 1982 and 1989, 13 97 cases of lymphoid and haemopoietic malignancies were registered in the Bangalore cancer registry, giving an age-adjusted incidence rate o f 7.7 and 4.8 per 100,000 in males and females respectively. Active fo llow-up provided mortality/survival information in 1267 or 90.7% of th ese cases. The overall observed 5-year survival for these cancers comb ined (both sexes) was 26%, and relative survival 28.4%. The 5-year sur vival rate was lower in all the individual lymphomas and leukaemias as compared with similar reports from the developed countries. Survival in Hodgkin's disease was influenced by clinical stage and age at prese ntation. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.