Cancer incidence and mortality pattern in Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office Countries and its association with the human development index

Purpose: Cancer is one of the main causes of death in the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) region. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between cancer incidence and mortality with the Human Development Index (HDI) in the EMRO region. Materials and Methods: The incidence and mortality rates of all cancers were obtained from the GLOBOCAN cancer project, and the data about the HDI were obtained from the United Nations Development Program database. The correlation between incidence, mortality rates, and the HDI parameters was analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The highest age-standardized incidence and mortality rates of cancers in the EMRO region were shown for colorectal cancer (10.19 ± 5.30) and lung cancer (8.92 ± 4.63), respectively, and the lowest was Kaposi's sarcoma in the incidence (0.20 ± 0.14) and mortality rate (0.10 ± 0.09), respectively. The lowest and highest incidence of all cancers in the region pertained to Yemen (80.40) and Lebanon (197.40), respectively. In addition, the lowest and highest mortality from all cancers were in Saudi Arabia (53.90) and Egypt (103.40), respectively. In examining the components of the HDI, gross national income per capita was related to mortality rate of all cancers (P = 0.02). The HDI was related between the incidence rates of colorectal, gallbladder, kidney, lip and oral cavity, multiple myeloma, esophagus, pancreas, and thyroid cancer and the mortality rates of lip and oral cavity, skin melanoma, multiple myeloma, nasopharynx, esophagus, larynx, and pancreas cancers (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that the incidence and mortality rates of some cancers were related to HDI, and the highest correlation was found between the incidence of kidney cancer and the mortality of pancreatic cancer with HDI.