BackgroundFew countries in the Middle East have a population-based cancer registry, despite a clear need for accurate cancer statistics in this region. We therefore established a registry in the East Azerbaijan province, the sixth largest province in northwestern Iran.MethodsWe actively collected data from 20 counties, 62 cities, and 44 districts for the period between 20th March 2015 and 19th March 2016 (one Iranian solar year). The CanReg5 software was then used to estimate age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) per 100,000 for all cancers and different cancer types.ResultsData for 11,536 patients were identified, but we only analyzed data for 6655 cases after removing duplicates and non-residents. The ASR for all cancers, except non-melanoma skin cancer, was 167.1 per 100,000 males and 125.7 per 100,000 females. The most common cancers in men were stomach (ASR 29.7), colorectal (ASR 18.2), bladder (ASR 17.6), prostate (ASR 17.3), and lung (ASR 15.4) cancers; in women, they were breast (ASR 31.1), colorectal (ASR 13.7), stomach (13.3), thyroid (ASR 7.8), and esophageal (ASR 7.1) cancers. Both the death certificate rate (19.5%) and the microscopic verification rate (65%) indicated that the data for the cancer registry were of reasonable quality.ConclusionThe results of the East Azerbaijan Population-based Cancer Registry show a high incidence of cancer in this province, especially gastrointestinal cancers.

Background and Aim. Breast cancer is the most frequent cancer in women and the second most common cancer across the globe. The aim of this study was to report the survival data and trend analysis of breast cancer between 2007 and 2016 in a northwest region in Iran. Methods. Data were obtained from East Azerbaijan cancer registry database for the 10-year period between 2007 and 2016. Survival analysis was performed to calculate the breast cancer-specific survival proportions and mortality rates. Joinpoint trend analysis was performed to estimate the incidence trend of the cancer. Results. A total number of 4989 patients were recorded with primary diagnosis of breast cancer. Of them, we collected follow-up data for 1335 (1309 female and 26 male). The 10-year crude mortality rate was 3.34 (per 100,000). The one-, two-, three-, five-, and ten-year breast cancer-specific survival proportions were 0.92 (95% CI 0.91-0.93), 0.88 (95% CI 0.86-0.90), 0.84 (95% CI 0.83-0.86), 0.77 (95% CI 0.74-0.80), and 0.65 (95% CI 0.60-0.70), respectively. Over the study period, the age-standardized incidence rates increased from 21.68 to 36.99 (per 100,000) with an annual percentage change of 5.5 percent. Older individuals and males patients had significantly worse survival, and patients with high-grade tumors had significantly higher risk of mortality. Conclusion. A relatively better survival for breast cancer in East Azerbaijan, Iran, was observed compared to the overall breast cancer-specific survival proportions and mortality rates in the country. However, it is still poor compared to the developed countries indicating that inappropriate treatment modalities might have played a role on this.

Background The most recent results of Global Cancer Statistics indicated that gastrointestinal cancers, including gastric, colorectal, esophageal, and liver cancers, are among the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide. Previous reports from cancer registries in East Azerbaijan have shown that there is a high incidence of gastrointestinal cancer in this region, so we performed a trend analysis to determine the pattern of change over the last decade. Methods In total, 12 years of cancer registry data were collected from different sources in East Azerbaijan, and a data quality check was performed to ensure clean data. Using the 2000 World Health Organization standard population, we then generated age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) for different cancers, and for each year from 1383 to 1394 of the Persian calendar (i.e., 19 March 2004 to 20 March 2015). Annual percent changes (APCs) and Average annual percent changes (AAPCs) in the ASRs for esophageal, gastric, small intestine, colorectal, anal, liver, gallbladder, and pancreatic cancers were calculated using Joinpoint Software (Version 4.5.0.1, June 2017). Results An increase in most types of cancer was observed during the study period. The ASR for colorectal cancer increased from 2.9 to 13.6 per 100,000 women (APC, 9.7%) and from 2.2 to 17.8 per 100,000 men (APC, 10.2%). The ASR for gastric cancer showed a slight increasing trend from 10.5 to 13.5 per 100,000 women (APC, 1.3%) and from 3.1 to 29.9 per 100,000 men (APC, 3.2%). However, trend analysis showed a decreasing pattern for the ASR of esophageal cancer in both genders (APC,− 3%), with APCs of − 1.1% in females and − 0.4% in males. Conclusions The latest results of the East Azerbaijan Population-Based Cancer Registry indicate that gastrointestinal cancers remain common, with significant increasing trends in their ASRs. Improved screening and early detection are needed in this region.

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Introduction:The cancer registry programs provide reliable information on cancer data for evidencebased scientific cancer research. The National Pathology Cancer Registry Program started in 2001 in East Azerbaijan province. However, it led to an underestimated rate for cancer incidence in this region. A population based study was conducted from March 2006 through March 2007, and provide incidence rates for all cancer types. We launched the second East Azerbaijan Population Based Cancer Registry (EAPBCR) program in 2015 and collected data from 20 counties, 62 cities, 44 districts and an area of 45,637.35 km², with a total population of 3,724,011 according to the 2011 census report of Iran. Methods: CanReg5 were used for data entry, storage, quality check and analysis of cancer registry data. EAPBCR collects data from pathology labs (including pathology and cytology reports), medical records in the hospitals, causes of death registry, radiotherapy center, hematology centers and imaging centers, during one solar year (20 March 2015 to 19 March 2016). All morphologic and topographic reports were coded based on ICD-O-3 coding system. Age standardized incidence rates (ASRs) were calculated using Standard World Population 2000, and reported per 100,000 populations. This report is on the preliminary results of about 90% of our cancer patients. Results: About 90% of data are presented here as a preliminary report. A total of 6,248 new cancer cases have been registered recently, by the mean age of 61.68 (±17.40 SD). Of these, 3,479 cases were male and 2,498 were female, and the male to female ratio was 1.39. Age Adjusted Incidence Rate for all cancer for males was 168.9, and 113.3 for females per 100,000. The five most common cancers according to ASRs in men were stomach, bladder, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers, respectively. The five most common cancers in women were breast, stomach, colorectal, esophagus, and thyroid cancers, respectively. Conclusion: Population based cancer registries provide an unbiased data of cancer burden and incidence changes over years. Our priority is to optimize case findings and data processing to provide a reliable estimate for cancer incidence in this region. The low rate of ASR among females is probably due to missing data from a few sources and optimized results from EAPBCR. Updated results will be provided in the congress.