HALA KALAJI, FARİNA SHABBIR, KARİNE FADEL, ELİAS FADEL, HUSEYİN ABALI
Turkish Journal of Oncology - 2024;39(1):100-106
OBJECTIVE The Bahrain National Tumor Board (NTB) was established by a decree issued by the Bahrain Supreme Health Council. Cancer cases are regularly referred to the NTB from all health facilities across the Kingdom. Our aim is to investigate the epidemiological trends of cancer in Bahrain during the period between 2016 and 2020. METHODS We reviewed the NTB data collected between February 2016 and February 2020. All the cancer cases submitted to the NTB Office from private and public hospitals in Bahrain from 1 February 2016 to 29 February 2020 were collected. RESULTS A total of 2,061 cancer cases were recorded. The median age at diagnosis was 56 years. Of the 2,061 cancer cases, 1,367 (66.4%) were female and 694 (33.6%) were male. Our study only considered solid tumor cases, which were 2,024 from the initial 2,061 cases. Among the 2,024 solid tumor cases, the top 5 cancers were breast (37.1%), colorectal (11.8%), thyroid (6.5%), prostate (5.9%), and head & neck (4.8%). In males, the top 5 cancers were colorectal (19.2%), prostate (17.3%), head & neck (10.1%), urinary bladder (7.2%), and lung (6.6%). In females, they were breast (55.2%), colorectal (8.0%), thyroid (7.3%), uterine (6.2%), and ovarian (3.22%) cancers. In the 1,173 cases with recorded stage, 44 (3.8%) were at stage 0, 198 (16.9%) at stage I, 347 (29.6%) at stage II, 299 (25.5%) at stage III, and 285 (24.1%) at stage IV. CONCLUSION The frequency distribution of cancer in the Kingdom of Bahrain differs from the rest of the world, with much higher percentages of breast and thyroid cancer, and fewer lung cancers in our study. They also present at late stages. We believe that we need to focus on prevention and early detection of cancer in Bahrain.
