Parents Partial towards Boys in Comparison to Girls during Cancer Treatment

In India, parents seem to be partial towards their male children in comparison to their female counterparts. It is suspected that due to this gender bias, more boys than girls are being diagnosed with cancer in India. This was hinted in a study published in The Lancet Oncology.

Data of children aged 0-19 years with cancer in hospital records of three cancer centres in India between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2019, were analyzed for this study. Apart from it data from two population-based cancer registries, PBCRs in Delhi between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2014, and Madras Metropolitan Tumour Registry between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2017, were also taken into account.

This study found out the ratio between boys with cancer seeking and girls seeking treatment. It was found that boys in India were seeking treatment more often than girls, said Professor Sameer Bakhshi, from the Department of Medical Oncology, AIIMS New Delhi.

Researchers found less number of girls getting cancer treatment in hospitals in Northern India in comparison to southern India. In the case of rural patients, this disparity was higher.

Due to gender bias in society, parents usually neglect the health problems of female children. Due to it less number of girls are brought to hospitals for diagnosis. This patriarchal attitude is more in the northern states of the country.

This study has suggested that provision of free treatment for cancer to girl children can help in reducing the sex disparity in seeking care for cancer.