404P - Adolescent & young adult cancers (AYA): Experience from a large rural teaching hospital in South India

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.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

Dr. Vishwapriya Mahadev Godkhindi.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.