Clinical–epidemiological characterization of cervical cancer in a middle-income country.

Abstract

e17514 Background: Despite significant advances in prevention and treatment, cervical cancer remains a global public health threat, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of women each year. It disproportionately affects women in low- and middle-income countries, where access to vaccination, screening, and early diagnosis is often limited. The present study aims to determine this pathology's clinical and epidemiological characteristics. Methods: This is an observational, descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional study. Information from the digital medical records of patients with cervical cancer from SOLCA Guayaquil from January 2010 to December 2014 was used. Results: 1909 medical records of patients with cervical cancer were reviewed during the study period; 211 were excluded for not meeting eligibility criteria, leaving 1698 to be evaluated. Regarding stages (I-II-III-IV), the most frequent was stage II (A-B), 54.2% of them, squamous cell carcinoma (44.6%), and adenocarcinoma (9.6%). 32.2% correspond to resectable cancers (IA-IIA), and 67.8% to non-resectable cancers. The mean age was 55 years, the median was 54, and the mode was 45. The absence of these comorbidities was the most frequent (47.8%), then kidney (6%) and ureteral (4.7%). Conclusions: The age of presentation of cervical cancer in this health center is higher than the global average but closer to what is seen in Latin America. The clinical stages are relatively advanced at diagnosis. The most frequent histopathological types were squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. What predominated was the absence of comorbidities. [Table: see text]