The prevalence of
the different gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, in the population of
northern West Bank, was investigated depending on the registries of 1000
patients at Al-Watani Hospital — Nablus, during the years 1999-2002.
The analysis of the data showed that, while the most frequent single
cancer is breast cancer (18.4%), the incidence frequency of all GI
cancers was (25.5%).
The most frequent GI cancer was liver cancer and then colorectal cancer
followed by stomach, oral cavity and pancreatic cancers, respectively.
Nablus district occupied the first position in the incidence frequency
of GI cancers (47%) followed by Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqeelia and Salfeet
districts, respectively. Further investigation of 141 GI cancer cases
showed that GI cancers are more frequent among the older people (55-75
years). This study showed that liver and stomach cancers were inure
frequent in males. According to the place of residence, the results
revealed that pancreas, colorectal and oral cavity cancers are most
frequent in the residents of refugee camps, villages, and cities,
respectively. Moreover, the findings of this study showed that pancreas
and colorectal cancers are more frequent among housewives, liver cancer
is more frequent among employees, and stomach and oral cavity cancers
are more frequent among workers. XI As an example of correlations, it
was found that the incidence frequencies of pancreas and colorectal
cancers are higher in smokers. Furthermore, the results relating the
incidence of GI cancers to the presence of chronic diseases(s) in the
family members showed that incidence Frequencies of both colorectal and
pancreas cancers are higher within the group having family member(s)
with chronic disease(s) compared to the group living with healthy
members. The results relating the incidence of GI cancers to the
presence of first degree relative(s) having cancer showed that incidence
frequencies of both colorectal and stomach cancers are higher within
the people having cancer diseased relative(s) compared to the people
with no family history of cancer.
In conclusion, it is clear that the incidence of the different GI cancer
types is not affected equally by the same variables and risk factors.
Consequently, the effect of each variable should be investigated
separately for each GI cancer type since extrapolation of the effect of
the same risk factors on all GI cancer types is not always correct.