MUSCAT, OCT 30 - While prostate gland cancer is found to be the most common type among males, breast cancer is ranked in the first place among females in the Sultanate. The annual average of cancer incidence is 125.7 per 100,000 inhabitants. This revelation was made in the 20-Year Cancer Incidence in Oman Report (1996-2015) unveiled by the Ministry of Health (MoH), represented by the Department of Non-Communicable Diseases, under the auspices of Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Health, in the presence of Dr Ahmed bin Salim al Mandhri, Regional Director of World Health Organization for East Mediterranean.
The report is the first-of-its-kind in the Sultanate indicating the number of recorded cases and the overall rate of cancer incidence among Omanis over the last 20 years. “Tobacco use, physical inactivity and unhealthy food are the risk factors of cancer,” pointed out the report. According to the statistics provided in the report, the detected cancer cases among Omanis reached 21,002 cases including 10,723 among males and 10,279 among females. This constituted 51.1 per cent males and 48.9 per cent females. The report classified the five most common cancer types among Omanis — both males and females — as breast cancer, non-hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia, colorectal cancer and thyroid cancer respectively.
The report categorised the cancer types among males from 1996 to 2015, in which the prostate gland cancer was most common type among men, then the stomach cancer, non-hodgkin lymphoma, leukemia and colorectal cancer respectively. Among women, during the same period, breast cancer ranked in the first place followed by thyroid cancer, colorectal cancer, non-hodgkin lymphoma and leukemia in the fifth place. The report also reveals the number of new cancer cases, types and the population distribution over the Sultanate according to the gender, geographical distribution, the cancer site and the number of cancers among non-Omanis.
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