ESMO Asia Congress 2022

Abstract 404P

Background

Cancers in AYA is being recognized as a disenfranchised niche field with its own unique epidemiology, cancer biology, risk factors, treatment implications & the massive socio-economic impact it bears on this most economically productive age-group. There is a paucity of well-collated published data from developing countries. Our study has tried to compile & analyze the pattern of AYA cancers from a large rural tertiary care teaching-hospital in South India & compare it to the published national data.

Methods

We compiled & analyzed the burden of AYA cancers in terms of demographic & site distribution, proportion, histopathologic diagnosis & other parameters over Jan.2019 to Dec.2022 from the medical records of large rural tertiary care teaching-hospital in South India. We compared our data on AYA cancers vis-à-vis the published national statistics.

Results

A total of 7973 patients were diagnosed with cancer between Jan.2019 to Dec.2022, 983(12.3%) occurred in AYA. 544(55.3%) were females. 104(10.6%), 126(12.9%), 153(15.5%), 226(23%) & 374(38.0%) occurred in the 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34 & 35-39 age groups respectively. The most common cancer overall was hematolymphoid malignancy(201, 20.4%), followed by thyroid(188, 19.12%). The most common hematolymphoid malignancy is acute leukaemia followed by non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The most common thyroid neoplasm was papillary thyroid carcinoma. Other common malignancies included Breast(113, 11.5%), Oral cavity(79, 8%), Central nervous system(65, 6.6%) & lower gastrointestinal tract(48, 4.9%).

Conclusions

AYA cancers deserve organizational support, multicenter collaboration, & resource-appropriate treatment adaptations with dedicated survivorship clinics. Mapping the epidemiology of AYA cancers will help improve surveillance, further focussed research & collaboration, guide resource allocation and national health policies, thus ultimately improve survival.