Malignant Tumours of the Control Nervous System in Migrant Population of East Africa

Abstract

The three immigrant races in East Africa—Asians, Arabs and Europeans—are mainly urban communities, in contrast to the predominantly rural life of the vast majority of the indigenous African population. Variation has been observed in the relative frequency of cancer in certain sites in these races. The incidence of C NS cancer in Asians is found to be relatively higher than in Africans. This reflects the sophistication of the population and the facilities available rather than the true difference in the incidence. For example, the relative frequency of malignant C NS tumours in the male Asian in Kenya is as high as 11 % , while the frequency in the Kenyan male Africans is only 0-6% as shown by Kenya Cancer Registry. In contrast, the frequency in Asians in Bombay, Karachi or Gujrat (province of India from which the majority of East African Indians have originated) is quite low (0-5-1%). Thus, the relative incidence of C NS tumours in an indigenous community is directly proportional to the extent of availability of neurosurgical diagnostic facilities. The study of thirty C NS malignant tumours in Asians of East Africa reveals the following findings: (a) higher incidence in the male, ratio being 21:9 (b) higher rates in the ages 1-20 and 51-60 (c) astrocytomas being the commonest type.