2Department of Quality and Patient Safety, Bahrain Oncology Center, Al Sayh-Bahrain
3Department of Gastroenterology, Foundation Year 2 House Officer, Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital, East Anglia Deanery, Cringleford-United Kingdom
4Department of Bahrain Oncology Center & The National Tumor Board, Bahrain Oncology Center, Bahrain
5Department of Head of Medical Oncology, Bahrain Oncology Center, Al Sayh-Bahrain DOI : 10.5505/tjo.2023.4049 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.