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CANCER IN BASRAH: A PILOT POPULATION-BASED HOUSEHOLD SURVEY
By: Basrah Cancer Research Group Participating Researchers:
Omran S. Habib1, Jawad KH Al-Ali2, Salim L. Al-Saad3, Janan B. Tooma4 & Janan B. Tooma5
ABSTRACT A pilot household survey was carried out during 2008 on 1430 households randomly selected from the population of the catchment's populations of primary health centres outside the City of Basrah. The objectives of the survey were to test the feasibility of conducting a wide-scale survey on the incidence of cancer in Basrah governorate and to provide additional demographic population-based data on age and sex composition of the population. The selection of households followed a multiclusters sampling approach and the data were collected through direct interview of a responsible adult in the household using a questionnaire form prepared for this pilot study. The work revealed that it is feasible to do large scale survey on this subject provided that the sample is carefully determined and drawn, the enumerators are well trained, supervised and adherent to the study design and the research is supported technically, financially and administratively from the stakeholders. Preliminary results revealed that carefully conducted survey could provide complementary data to back up hospital-and histopathology-based cancer registries. They also provide updated demographic data on the target population. The estimated incidence was 148.8 cases per 100000 populations with a great demographic and spatial variation. Nearly 48.6% of the reported cases have died during the six year recall period of the study indicating a high case fatality.
1(Ph.D.) , Professor of Epidemiology and Health Care, Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Basrah, Member of Iraqi Cancer Council 2(MRCP), Consultant Physician and Oncologist, Member of Iraqi Cancer Council. 3(CABM), Specialist in Internal Medicine, Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital, Basrah 4(D.S.), Surgeon, Breast Cancer Early Detection Centre, Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital, Basrah 5(MSc Physics), Physicist, Directorate of Environment, Basrah
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