KUALA LUMPUR: Breast cancer, colorectal cancer and lung cancer topped the list of commonly diagnosed types of cancer among Malaysians, ranked by proportion from 2017 to 2021.
This is followed by lymphoma, liver cancer, prostate cancer, leukaemia, nasopharyngeal cancer, uterine corpus cancer and ovarian cancer, according to the five-year "Summary of the Malaysia National Cancer Registry Report 2017-2021" (MNCR) report.
The Health Ministry in a statement said analysis by gender reveals that colorectal cancer recorded the highest cancer incidence among men, followed by lung cancer and prostate cancer.
Among women, breast cancer had the highest incidence, followed by colorectal cancer and lung cancer.
However, the percentage of cancer cases detected at stage 3 and 4 has increased to 65.1 per cent in 2017 to 2021 from 63.7 per cent in the previous five-year period from 2012 to 2016.
"This trend is concerning, as highlighted in the 'Malaysian Study on Cancer Survival' published in October 2018, which underscored lower survival rates with delayed cancer detection.
"Therefore, fostering a multi-stakeholder collaboration is crucial to identifying opportunities for enhancing community awareness and access to early detection and treatment," it said.
There is a positive trend in cervical cancer incidence in Malaysia, where it observed a consistent decrease from 7.6 per 100,000 women in 2007 to 2011, to 6.2 per 100,000 women in 2012 to 2016, and further down to 6.0 per 100,000 women in 2017 to 2021.
"The effort to combat cervical cancer in Malaysia began with the introduction of pap smear screening in 1969, followed by its availability for free in government health facilities nationwide starting in 1998. The ministry has also adopted the self-sampling method using the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) detection kit as part of its efforts towards cervical cancer elimination.
"The collaborative efforts of various stakeholders, including the ministry, community representatives, universities, private healthcare facilities, and non- governmental organisations, have been valuable," it added.
According to the National Health and Morbidity Survey, pap smear screening coverage among women aged between 30 and 65 expanded from 23.1 per cent in 2019 to 43.2 per cent in 2023.
The ministry added that they also foresee a sustained reduction in cervical cancer cases as the generation vaccinated against HPV matures in the future years.
It added that Malaysia witnessed a notable increase in cancer cases reported from 2017 to 2021 in general, partly due to the implementation of the new notification system and circular directive.
Despite this, it said Malaysia continues to grapple with a substantial cancer burden. Hence, it is important for stakeholders to actively engage in cancer prevention, control, and treatment by strategically leveraging this data for planning.
"Moving forward, MOH (Health Ministry) aims to improve the timeliness of the MNCR reports.
"Efforts will focus on more frequent releases, potentially transitioning to biennial and ultimately annual reports. These initiatives are aimed at providing updated and actionable data to inform targeted strategies and improve outcomes in cancer prevention and care.
"Throughout this endeavour, MOH will uphold the accuracy and completeness of information to ensure the integrity and reliability of the data," it said.
The MNCR was established in 2007, initially relying on manual reporting
Over the period from 2007 to 2018, two five-year reports were published to illustrate the cancer burden in Malaysia. In 2018, the introduction of online cancer case reporting through the Malaysian Health Data Warehouse website streamlined data collection processes.
Additionally, a circular in 2020 mandated online cancer notifications, leading to a substantial increase in the reported cases to the MNCR.
Following these, the National Cancer Registry at Institut Kanser Negara (National Cancer Institute) has successfully published the third MNCR in e-book format.