MOST COMMON DIAGNOSED CANCERS AND THE MOST COMMON CANCEROUS CAUSE OF DEATH IN ZAHEDAN (SOUTH EAST IRAN) IN 2014

Introduction: Cancer is one of the main reasons of mortality in the world. Considering cancer importance among diseases and its role on diseases burden and quality of life, it seems essential to update data about local pattern of the most common cancers and cancer related deaths, to provide evidence needed for public health priorities and effective prevention policies.

Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Our study population included all the diagnosed cancer cases in public and private pathology centers of Zahedan (Iran south east) in 2014. Sampling method was census. Descriptive statistics were used to state the results.

Results: All under study patients were 712 whom their cancers were diagnosed in pathology centers of Zahedan during 2014. Stomach cancer is the most common cancer among patients; breast cancer and colon cancer are in the next ranks after it respectively. The first five cancerous causes of death among Zahedan population were as; neoplasm of stomach, gallbladder, liver, colon and lung respectively.

Conclusion: Generally, having ignored the observed differences in distribution of the frequency of cancers in Zahedan from global and country patterns, the most common diagnosed types of cancers in this city are related to stomach and breast which is congruent with country pattern.Local epidemiological information about most common cancerous diseases and most common cancerous cause of death in Zahedan city can be used to evidence based decision making by health manager, and help them to more effective interventions toward primary, secondary and tertiary preventions.