A comprehensive study on cancer in India has revealed that Muslim women had notably low risk of cervical and oral cancer.
Published in UK-based prestigious medical journal Lancet, the first-ever nationwide study says that age-standardized mortality ratios for cervical and oral cancers was much lower in Muslim women, compared to higher ratios of breast and stomach cancers among them. It reveals that the states where Muslim population is higher, cervical and oral cancer risk among women is “much lower.”
The Muslim factor for cervical and oral cancer was so pronounced that for instance, Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, which have 75 and 40 per cent Muslim population respectively, have “less than a quarter of the national rates of cervical cancer,” the authors write.
Authors suggested circumcision among Muslim men is the most likely cause of lower rate of cervical cancer among Muslim women. “As seen internationally, circumcision in men greatly reduces the chances of sexual transmission of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), believed to be responsible for cervical cancer.”
“Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in both rural and urban areas. The risk of dying from cervical cancer for a woman is higher than risk of dying during pregnancy,” the study says.
The study concludes that 71 percent of cancer deaths in India occurred in people in the 30-69 years age group. In this age group, the three most common fatal cancers, according to the survey, were oral (23%), stomach (13%), and lung (11%) in men, and cervical (17%), stomach (14%), and breast (10%) in women.
“Most cancer deaths occurred in Hindus in roughly similar proportion to the national Hindu population. Muslim men had higher age-standardized mortality ratios for most cancers than did Hindus and other religious groups, but a slightly lower ratio for liver cancer than did Hindus,” study concluded after analyzing the data across religious groups.
The study found that rates of cancer deaths were generally similar between rural and urban areas and about twice as high in the least versus the most educated.
This study was funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and US National Institute of Health.