Clinical trials: A key tool in improving breast cancer survival in Nigeria.

Abstract

e18198 Background: Clinical trials has continued to sharpen the treatment guidelines in managing breast cancer in the United States. The trends in breast cancer management in developed countries and the shifts in treatment paradigms have impacted on breast cancer diagnosis from an incurable entity in the early 1900s’ to the situation today where most women are diagnosed in early stage and cured while advanced staged women are living with the disease for several years. Clinical research in breast cancer is in its infancy stage in Nigeria. There is an urgent need for more clinical trials in Nigeria geared towards developing treatment algorithms in a bid to increase survival in Breast cancer patients. Methods: A systematic review of all research published on breast cancer since 1963 till 2017 in Nigeria .We reviewed all articles found on PubMed and Google scholar search engines by searching “ Breast cancer in Nigeria”. Using the PRISMA and NIH guidelines, we reviewed classified them based on their study designs into different levels of evidence. Information extracted from studies include, year of publications, study designs and level of evidence. Studies selected were group into seven levels of evidence .Meta-analysis was not considered in the review due to vary study designs and difficulty n pooling then together. Results: Out of 430 published articles cited relating to Breast cancer, only 282 articles where eligible for the systematic review. 56.4%(159) of studies done on breast were cross sectional studies, followed by case – control studies 11.7% (33), then case reports & series 10.4%(29) ,2.8%(8) , only 1.1% (3)of studies cited were clinical trials registered on Clinical Trials.gov on breast cancer treatment. On Levels of Evidence, Level 6 accounted for 54.9 %( 155) followed by Level 7, 18.1 %( 51), level 1, 2, 3 were 0%, 1.1%, 8.9%.Conclusions: A vast majority of research done on Breast Cancer done in the Country are still at the Levels 4, 6 and 7 of Evidence. Clinical trials in Breast cancer treatment are rare in Nigeria, they however provide Level 1, 2 or 3 evidence which helps to develop treatment protocols for Breast cancer Treatment in Nigeria. , it is pertinent to develop more clinical trials so as to improve quality of care and life in breast cancer patients.