Cervical cancer in Mozambique: Clinical characteristics, treatment and survival of incident cases admitted to the Oncology Service of Maputo Central Hospital in 2016-2018.

Abstract

In Mozambique, cervical cancer is the most frequent cancer in women. However, studies about cervical cancer treatment and prognosis are scarce. We describe the clinical characteristics, treatment and survival of patients with cervical cancer admitted to Maputo Central Hospital (MCH) in 2016 to 2018. Sociodemographic, clinical and cancer-related data were retrieved from clinical records of patients admitted to the Oncology Service of the MCH with an incident cervical cancer in 2016 to 2018 (n = 407). The Pathology Service database was used to obtain information regarding pathological diagnosis. Survival data was obtained through the MCH Cancer Registry and clinical records. Odds ratios for the association between patients' characteristics and the diagnosis of advanced stage cancer were computed using logistic regression. Survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier estimator. A total of 91.2% of the patients were diagnosed with advanced disease (stage IIB-IV) and squamous cell carcinoma was the predominant histological subtype. Most of the patients underwent chemotherapy (93.1%) but <7% were submitted to surgery, radiotherapy or brachytherapy. Those living with HIV had 3.4-fold higher odds of advanced disease. Overall survival was 72.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 67.9-77.0) at 1-year and 51.0% (95%CI: 45.3-56.3) at 2-years. Those with early stage (IA-IIA) and asymptomatic at diagnosis had a significantly higher 2-year overall survival. In Mozambique, cervical cancer is diagnosed mostly in advanced stages, resulting in poor prognosis. This highlights the importance of HPV vaccination and screening, to decrease the burden of cervical cancer in this context.