Published Mar 31, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Mar 31, 2026 | 7:00 AM
A healthy lifestyle, regular health check-ups, and screening programmes play a vital role in cancer prevention.
Synopsis: Despite breast cancer accounting for more than a third of all female cancer cases, only 0.3% of women aged 30 to 49 have ever undergone a breast examination. Cervical cancer screening fares only marginally better, with just 3.3% of women having ever been tested.
One in six women in Hyderabad faces the risk of developing cancer, according to the Telangana Cancer Burden Profile – 2026, published by the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research (ICMR-NCDIR).
The report, discussed at a high-level meeting at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), painted a sobering picture of a state ill-prepared for the cancer crisis.
The cumulative risk for men, while lower, is still deeply concerning: one in eight males in Hyderabad is likely to receive a cancer diagnosis before the age of 74. Together, these figures signal that cancer is no longer a distant possibility for a large share of Telangana’s population, but a statistical probability under current trends.
Telangana is projected to record 46,762 new cancer cases among adults in 2026, rising to 47,314 by 2030. Women bear the heavier load, with 25,510 new cases expected this year against 21,252 in men.
NIMS Director Dr Beerappa Nagari, who presided over the meeting convened to discuss the report’s findings, called the trajectory deeply worrying.
“Cancer cases are steadily rising in the state,” he said. “Early detection, public awareness, and accessible treatment facilities for all are crucial to address this situation.”
The report identified breast cancer as the single largest threat to women, accounting for 36.2% of all female cases, followed by cervix uteri at 8.1% and ovarian cancer at 6.6%. Among men, oral cavity cancers dominate at 21.7%, followed by lung cancer at 10.5% and colorectal cancer at 7.9%.
The age-standardised cancer burden, measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), stood at 1,979 per 100,000 population for both sexes combined. Women again fared worse, with a burden of 2,212 DALYs against 1,766 for men.
Perhaps the most alarming section of the report was regarding screening. Despite breast cancer accounting for more than a third of all female cancer cases, only 0.3% of women aged 30 to 49 have ever undergone a breast examination. Cervical cancer screening fares only marginally better, with just 3.3% of women having ever been tested. For oral cancer, the figures are 2.5% for women and 2.6% for men.
Cancer Registry Principal Investigator Dr Sadashivudu Gundeti said the data underscored an urgent need for structural change.
“A healthy lifestyle, regular health check-ups, and screening programmes play a vital role in cancer prevention,” he said, adding that awareness programmes needed to be expanded significantly, “particularly in rural areas.”
The report attributed 58.8% of all male cancer sites to tobacco use, a figure that laid bare the scale of a largely preventable crisis.
Among women, 29.7% of cancer sites were tobacco-related, with cervix uteri accounting for 27% of female tobacco-related cancers, in line with classifications by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Current tobacco use stood at 22.3% among males and 5.6% among females in the state.
The consequences of poor screening were visible in how patients arrived at hospitals. For lung cancer, 62% of female patients and 55% of male patients presented with distant metastasis, meaning the cancer had already spread to other organs.
Stomach cancer has a similar story, with distant metastasis at 33% in women and 34% in men. Even for breast cancer, where localised detection was clinically feasible, 40% of cases were at the locoregional stage and 12% have already reached distant metastasis by the time of diagnosis.
The report projected 628 new cancer cases in boys and 571 in girls between the ages of 0 and 19 in 2026. Lymphoid leukaemia is the leading site in both, accounting for roughly 32% of cases. Brain cancer is a growing concern, representing 9.6% of cases in boys and 10.7% in girls.
Telangana’s primary tertiary cancer facility remains the MNJ Institute of Oncology and Regional Cancer Centre in Hyderabad. The state operates 10 hospital-based cancer registries and 59 palliative care centres.
Financial support is available through the Cheyutha Scheme, Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi, and Ayushman Bharat, though experts at the meeting noted that financial schemes alone cannot substitute for early detection.
