Cancer third leading cause of death in UAE

The third leading cause of death in the UAE was cancer (after circulatory system diseases and injuries) in 2015, a report released last week has revealed. Of the 8,755 deaths reported in the year, 867 (9.9 per cent) were claimed by cancer.

According to the second annual statistical report of the UAE National Cancer Registry that collated data for 2015, breast cancer (113 deaths) was the leading cause of cancer deaths, while malignant of trachea bronchus and lung cancer (104 deaths) was reported as the second leading cause with 104.

About 87.3 per 100,000 females in the UAE are afflicted with a type of cancer. Overall, the crude incidence rate of the cancers was 43.3/100,000, while it was 27.2/100,000 for the males.

Officials said the data was "likely to be more or less" representative of 2018, too.

"The UAE is in the midst of a war on non-communicable diseases (NCDs)," said Dr Mohamed Salim Al Olama, undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and Prevention. "This document will throw light on the cancer burden in the country."

According to the stats, 3,968 cancer cases were diagnosed among the UAE residents, of which 3,744 (94.4 per cent) were malignant and 224 (5.6 per cent) in situ (cancer that did not spread) cases. Of these, 1,822 (45.9 per cent) were reported in males and 2,146 (54.1 per cent) in females.

Of the cases, 1,113 were UAE citizens (28 per cent) and 2,855 expatriates (72 per cent).

For the year 2015, the crude incidence rate for invasive cancers (malignant) is higher for females at 80.6/100,000 than males at 26.3/100,000.

New cases

Breast, colorectal and thyroid cancer were the most prevalent of all new cancer cases in both genders. Among males, the most prevalent cancers were colorectal, prostate and leukemia, while women reported breast, thyroid and colorectal ones.

Among UAE citizens, 1,113 cases were newly diagnosed; out of which 1,048 (94.2 per cent) cases were malignant. Similarly, in expatriates, 2,855 cases were newly diagnosed with the disease, of which 2,696 (94.4 per cent) were malignant and 159 (5.6 per cent) were in situ cases.

The most common cases among expats were that of breast, colorectal, thyroid, leukemia and prostate cancers, while Emiratis reported breast, colorectal, thyroid, leukemia and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Breast cancer in females and colorectal cancer in males have shown the fastest increase in incidence over the past decade across the UAE.

The incidence of breast, thyroid and colorectal cancers in females and colorectal, prostate, and leukemia cancers in males has also been observed to increase markedly in 2015.

Cases among children

Cancer is the second prominent cause of death in children aged 5 to 14 years, after accidents. Eighteen children died of it in 2015. In the same year, 165 children in the age-group of 0-14 years were diagnosed with the disease.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi
• Dubai

Asma Ali Zain

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com