Knowing how far a cancer has spread at diagnosis is essential for planning treatment, estimating outcomes, and tracking cancer trends. However, many cancer registries record incomplete stage information, and different registries use different staging systems, making it hard to compare data across hospitals, regions, and countries.

At the Indian Council of Medical Research–National Institute of NCD Epidemiology (ICMR–NINE), Bengaluru, we built a framework to translate between four widely used staging systems: the detailed TNM system, and three simpler systems—SEER Summary Stage, Essential TNM, and Condensed TNM. We harmonized these systems for breast, cervix, oral cavity, and colorectal cancers by comparing the official criteria of each system category by category against TNM, mapping which categories in one system correspond to which in another. We then tested this map using real patient records from 242 Hospital-Based Cancer Registries across India (2018–2023), covering 720,539 patients, of whom 315,470 had complete staging details. A representative sample of 4,000 patients let us check how accurately stage could be converted between systems, in both directions.

We found the translation worked well for some cancers but not others. Cervical and colorectal cancers showed strong agreement across all systems, meaning registries could reliably substitute one system for another. Breast and oral cancers showed more disagreement, particularly at intermediate stages, because the simpler systems do not always weigh tumour size and lymph node spread the way TNM does.

Through this work, we have given Indian and other low- and middle-income country registries a validated, cancer-specific tool to convert stage data between systems rather than discarding incomplete or differently coded records. We believe this can strengthen public health surveillance by enabling more complete monitoring of stage at diagnosis, better tracking of trends over time, and pooling of data across registries and countries for research and international comparisons. For clinical care, our framework does not replace individual patient assessment, but by improving the completeness and comparability of population-level staging data, it can strengthen the evidence used to plan cancer-control programmes, allocate screening and treatment resources, and identify gaps in early detection. Our findings also show that reliable conversion needs detailed tumour, node, and metastasis information, not just the final stage label.

Cervical cancer remains a leading cause of illness and death among women in India and worldwide, and early screening is key to preventing it. Traditional screening requires a doctor to collect a sample from the cervix, a step that discourages many women due to discomfort, embarrassment, or limited access to healthcare providers. Urine-based self-testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) — the virus responsible for most cervical cancers — offers a simple, private, and non-invasive alternative that women can perform themselves, potentially removing many of these barriers to screening.

This review combined results from 13 studies worldwide (each including between 65 and 5,318 eligible women) to see how well urine testing detects HPV infection and pre-cancerous changes, compared with samples collected by a health care provider. Urine sensitivity (ability of the test to correctly identify women who actually have the infection), correctly identified infection in a majority of women who truly had HPV, and importantly, its specificity — its ability to correctly rule out women without infection — was comparable to vaginal and cervical sampling, meaning it is equally reliable at avoiding false alarms. While urine testing showed somewhat lower sensitivity than clinician-collected methods for detecting advanced pre-cancerous changes, its ease of use, acceptability, and consistent accuracy across diverse settings highlight its strong potential as a practical entry point into organized screening.

Given its convenience and non-invasive nature, urine self-sampling could substantially improve screening participation, particularly among women who would otherwise avoid pelvic examinations altogether As urine collection techniques and testing technologies continue to advance, this approach is well positioned to narrow the gap with existing methods, offering a promising, women-friendly tool to expand the reach of cervical cancer screening programmes and support progress toward global cervical cancer elimination goals.

Cerebral Venous Thrombosis (CVT) is a rare type of stroke caused by a blood clot in the veins that drain blood from the brain. It mainly affects younger adults and can lead to severe disability or death if treatment is delayed. This study used data from the Hospital-Based Stroke Registry (HBSR) of the National Stroke Registry Programme, coordinated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)–National Institute of NCD Epidemiology (ICMR-NINE), to describe CVT in India.

The study analysed 575 patients with confirmed CVT registered between January 2020 and December 2022 from 11 Hospital-Based Stroke Registries across India. This cross-sectional study used prospectively collected data on clinical features, brain imaging, treatment, risk factors, and recovery.

Among nearly 35,000 registered stroke patients, CVT accounted for 1.6% of all strokes. Most patients were young adults (average age 38 years), nearly three-quarters were aged 18–44 years, and about 60% were men. The most common symptoms were headache, weakness, and seizures. Brain haemorrhage and clots involving multiple brain veins were common. The leading risk factors were anaemia, alcohol use, and high homocysteine levels. Most patients received blood-thinning medicines. By three months, three-quarters had recovered well, but about 1 in 11 patients died. Older age (45 years or above), reduced consciousness, difficulty swallowing, and delayed arrival at hospital were linked to a higher risk of death.

Most evidence on CVT comes from Europe and North America, where it is more common in young women. This large multicentre Indian study confirms findings from smaller South Asian studies that, unlike in Western countries, CVT mainly affects young men and is associated with preventable risk factors.

The high burden of preventable risk factors, including anaemia and alcohol use, highlights the need for targeted awareness, early screening, and stronger prevention programmes. These findings can support in identifying high-risk patients and ensuring timely treatment and follow-up, while helping public health programmes and policymakers improve referral systems, diagnostic access, specialist care, and treatment.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in India. There is limited data on how patients present to hospitals, how they are treated, and what happens to them after a stroke. This ICMR NCDIR published data from the Hospital Based Stroke Registries under the National Stroke Registry Programme on stroke patterns, its care and outcomes across India.

Between 2020 and 2022, 34,792 stroke patients from 30 hospitals across the country were included in this study. The average age of patients was about 59 years, and nearly 1 in 7 patients were younger than 45 years. Most patients (72%) were from rural areas. High blood pressure was the most common risk factor, affecting almost three-fourths of patients. Other common risk factors included diabetes, tobacco use (both smoking and smokeless forms), and alcohol use.

Ischemic stroke (caused by a blockage in a blood vessel in the brain) accounted for 60% of cases, while bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke) accounted for about one-third. One in five patients reached the hospital within 4.5 hours of symptom onset, the crucial time window when clot-busting treatment (thrombolysis) can be given. As a result, only 4.6% of eligible patients received thrombolysis.

Outcomes showed that 14% of patients died during their hospital stay, 30% were living with significant disability, 27.8% had died and 1% had recurrent stroke by the end of three months after stroke was diagnosed.

This study highlights the gaps in stroke prevention and care in India, including poor control of risk factors, delayed hospital arrival, and limited access to advanced treatments. The findings underline the need to strengthen stroke prevention, increase public awareness about early warning signs, and ensure people seek care immediately. Improving emergency response, providing timely treatment in hospitals, and expanding rehabilitation services especially in rural areas, can help reduce deaths and long-term disability after stroke. Health system strengthening through improved infrastructure and capacity building of health work force will also help.