Cancer mortality pattern in a resource-poor country: A Case study of a teaching hospital in the southeast region of Nigeria

Abstract

Background: There are many studies on the pattern and incidence of cancer, but there are few documented works on cancer mortality (CM). Even fewer are African studies on CM that encompass all cancers and reveal the relative contributions of the various cancers to the overall burden of CM. This retrospective study was therefore performed to determine the types and patterns of cancer deaths in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Southeast, Nigeria, during the 10-year period from 2010 to 2019. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from the death data files in the mortuary unit of the department of anatomic pathology. These death data document the cause of death as issued by the attending medical/surgical/oncology teams or the pathologist that performed an autopsy on the deceased. Data collected included the deceased's age, sex, and underlying cause and date of death. Results: One thousand one hundred and sixty-six deaths (representing 10.3% of all hospital deaths) were due to cancers. There were 472 (40.5%) males and 694 (59.5%) females in the series (P