India, Feb. 12 -- Every 20th Indian family has a history of cancer, according to a recent report released by Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), a longitudinal survey to examine aging and retirement among India's population aged 45 and above.

Cancers are caused by mutations that may be inherited, induced by environmental factors, or result from Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication errors. Aging is the among the main risk factors for carcinogenesis in human beings.

The first LASI report that surveyed over 72,000 elderly Indians between April 2017 and December 2018 showed that 0.5 per cent of people aged between 45 and 59 self-reported prevalence of diagnosed cancer or malignant tumour. This number increased to 0.7 per cent when ...