New Delhi: A new study found that the incidence of highly fatal liver cancers is increasing far more rapidly among Indian women than in men, despite it affecting more men, The Print reported.
The reviewed study was titled Epidemiology of Hepatocellular Carcinoma India- An Updated Review for 2024. It was published in ScienceDirect’s Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology this week. It further showed that around 30 per cent of liver cancer cases are now being observed without underlying liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis is often considered a precursor to liver cancers.
The study suggests that four states in India are the new hotspots of the illness hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). They are namely Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Goa. HCC is the most common type of liver cancer, and it begins in the main type of liver cell per hepatocyte.
India reports approximately 35,000 cases of liver cancer, the eighth most common type of cancer, every year. It currently has an incidence rate of 2.15 per 100,000, a prevalence rate of 2.27 per 100,000, and a mortality rate of 2.1 per 100,000. The average annual death count due to liver cancer in the country is 34,000.
The study warns that the said rates are lower in the country compared to global data, but the annual rates of change in these parameters, including deaths, are higher.
Liver cancer is the sixth most frequently diagnosed cancer and causes the third-highest number of deaths globally.
In India, it is the northeastern states that have a higher prevalence and mortality related to HCC, but the emergence of the mentioned four states as new hotspots could be because of their rapid industrialization.