Epidemiological characteristics of liver cancer in Niger (1992 - 2006)

Abstract

The present work aims to bring out the epidemiological characteristics of liver cancer in Niger, especially as no previous studies have worked on the national epidemiology of cancer in Niger. This is a retrospective study in the period 1992 to 2006. The data were collected from the Laboratory of Pathological Anatomy and Cytology of the Faculty of Health Sciences of Niamey, which receives all the swabs intended for the histological analysis from all the Nigerien territory. Among the 5238 cases of cancer, the liver cancer represented 12.3% and came in the second position behind the breast cancer. 242 deaths were registered among liver cancer patients, which makes a specific lethality of 37%. The sex-ratio for males to females of liver cancer cases was 2.3 and the difference was highly significant. However, the specific lethality, which was 37.03% in male patients and 37.69% in female ones, did not display any significant sex difference. The mean age of liver cancer patients was 47.67 ± 14.20 years, and the comparison of the means of age did not display any significant difference between males and females in terms of age. The farmers were the socio-professional group the most affected by liver cancer with 61% of all cases. The patients practicing household activities showed the highest specific lethality, followed by farmers. The study of the repartition of patients according to their origin showed that the major part was from Niamey region with 69%. Because of the seriousness of the liver cancer problem in Niger, the health authorities should pay more attention to this pathology through efficient fight strategies. Key words: Cancer, liver, epidemiological profile, lethality, Niger.