Assessment of stigma and QoL analysis in patients with Cancers of Breast, Head and Neck,Lungs: A hospital based prospective study

Cancer is a deadly disease characterised by the development of abnormal and uncontrollable cell division. Solid cancers are one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths, characterized by rapid growth of tumour, and local and distant metastases. The cases of new diagnosed cancer in 2020 across the globe was 19.3 million and incidence of cancer case is higher in male (10,065,305) than female (9,227,484) according to GLOBOCAN data, 2020. Globally the major types of cancer include breast cancer, lungs cancer, cervical cancer, head and neck cancer, melanoma (skin cancer) etc. (WHO report, 2021). In India 1.15 million people diagnosed with cancer and 0.7 million people died in recent years (Pandey et al., 2019). It is predicted that, if effective diagnosis and treatment measures are not taken in time, then the national cancer burden in India will exceed 1 crore by 2030. The integrated efforts both from the Govt. and private sectors need to be accelerated for the timely and efficient management of this alarming disease. In Bihar, the low literacy rate and lack of advanced treatment facilities to all the cancer patients rushing in to hospital settings mark a serious issue in Eastern India. The World Health Organisation has defined two distinct but related strategies to promote the early detection of cancer, early diagnosis, that is, the recognition of symptomatic cancer at an early stage; and screening, that is the identification of asymptomatic disease in a target population of apparently healthy individuals. Despite of Govt. aid, the phobia of Cancer and societal as well as financial constraints cause delay or harm to the patients in India to receive proper medical treatment and palliative care. However, the data of cancer patients treated or being treated (along with the drug regimens and/or side effects, if any) in Bihar region remains largely unpublished. There is very limited data available for cancer cases in Eastern India because of which people are not so much aware of the increasing cancer prevalence and incidences. Many individuals do not know about the cause of cancers because it has not been made much educative to the people of Bihar. We aim to assess the cancer related stigma and QoL analysis in Cancer patients of Breast, Head and Neck, Lungs using WHO-QoL tools at S. S. Hospital and Research Centre, Patna