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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · South Asian J Cancer
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1807260
Original Article

Cancer Prevalence in Elderly Patients: Tertiary Care Hospital Experience from Punjab

Saloni Goyal
1   Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
,
Parul Verma
1   Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
,
Nishav Garg
1   Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
,
Vikram Narang 
1   Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
,
Kunal Jain
2   Department of Medical Oncology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
,
Harpreet Kaur
1   Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
,
Bhavna Garg
1   Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India
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Abstract

Objective

Geriatric oncology in India is still in infancy. With the aging population emerging as one of the most significant global demographic shifts, primarily driven by increased life expectancy, increasing incidence of cancer among older adults is concerning. Further age-related comorbidities, treatment intolerance, and toxicities often affect treatment decisions for older cancer patients. Punjab being labeled as cancer capital of India must have dedicated registry for such patients.

Materials and Methods

One year retrospective observational study to evaluate the spectrum of malignancies in elderly population was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Punjab.

Results

Out of 955 cancer cases, 608 (63.6%) were in individuals aged 60 and above, with 326 (53.6%) cases in males and 282 (46.4%) cases in females. A significant gender difference was noted, with higher breast cancer prevalence in women (n = 85, 30.1%) and hematolymphoid cancers (n = 97, 29.7%) in men.

Conclusion

With the aging population, there is a critical need for cancer prevention, screening, and treatment strategies for the elderly, addressing age- and gender-specific risk factors for better outcomes in geriatric oncology.

Keywords

cancer prevalence - geriatric oncology - India - Punjab - tumor types

Ethical approval

The research/study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the Institutional Ethics Committee at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, number BHUHS/2K2tp-TH/137, dated February 5, 2022.


Declaration of Patient Consent

The authors certify that they have obtained all appropriate patient consent.


Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Technology for Manuscript Preparation

The authors confirm that there was no use of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technology for assisting in the writing or editing of the manuscript and no images were manipulated using AI.




Publication History

Received: 22 January 2025

Accepted: 11 March 2025

Article published online:
08 April 2025

© 2025. MedIntel Services Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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