Cancer incidence among the Bahraini population: a five-year (1998-2002) experience.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is the second leading cause of death, following cardiovascular diseases, accounting for 12% of annually reported deaths in Bahrain. We determined the epidemiological patterns of malignancies in Bahrain and compared them with those of other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and other developed countries.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Data for the study were obtained from the Bahrain Cancer Registry (BCR) database. The overall and type-specific 5-year average incidence rates were calculated for the years 1998-2002 and derived using the CANREG software formula. The incidence rates for the year 2000 were used for comparing Bahrain with those of other countries in the Arabian Gulf using the statistics of the Gulf Centre for Cancer Registration.

RESULTS: During the 5-year period there were 2405 cancer cases in Bahrain (1239 males and 1166 females), with an annual average of 481 cases. The world age-standardized incidence rates (ASR) were 162.3 and 145.2 per 100000 for Bahraini males and females, respectively. Generally, Bahraini men had a higher ASR for most cancer types, and the most common type of cancer was lung for males (35.2 per 100000), followed by bladder (14.5) and prostate (14.3), and breast for females (46.8), followed by lung (12.2) and ovary (7.7).

CONCLUSION: Compared to other Gulf countries, Bahrain had higher incidence rates for cancers of the lung, prostate, colorectum, bladder, kidney, pancreas and leukemia among males and for cancers of the breast, lung, bladder, thyroid, uterus and ovary among females. A rising trend in cancer incidence is likely to continue for years or even decades to come.