Abstract

INCREASED RISK OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF CANCERS IN THE STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR: A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW

Shilpa Raina*, Vikas Sharma, Navneet Kour and Shivangi Sharma

ABSTRACT

Carcinogen is any agent, chemical, physical or viral that causes cancer or increase the incidence of cancer and the process by which cancer develops in various tissues of the body is referred to as carcinogenesis. A number of factors are responsible for promoting cancer, viz; physical, chemical, lifestyle, dietary, pharmacological, reproductive and genetic factors, DNA/RNA viruses and infectious diseases. Among the risk factors, the use of tobacco (cigarette, cigar, pipe or smokeless tobacco), unhealthy diet (rich in fatty foods) and physical inactivity (leading to obesity) are more likely to increase a person's risk for cancer than the very low levels of pollutants in food, drinking water and air. Many different approaches to the treatment of cancer can be adopted such as surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy or a combination of the four. In addition, during thepast decades, researchers have made astonishing progress in identifying the cause of cancer at the molecular level, but it is considered that the management of disease is still not up to the mark and there is an emergent need of the more rational and target specific drugs with more efficacy and minimum side effects. The cancer cases are on rise in Jammu and Kashmir with lung cancer becoming most prominent due to smoking. The summer capital Srinagar tops the number with 898 cancer patients in 2015 while the number stands at 853 in Jammu. The lowest number of cases has been recorded in Leh and Kargil districts of the Ladakh region where it stands at 62.

Keywords: Cancer, Increased Risk, Jammu and Kashmir.