Frequency of Different Types of Non-hodgkin Lymphoma and their Association with Demographics and Stage of Disease: An Institutional Perspective from Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction: Lymphoma is the fifth most common cancer and affects both genders throughout the world. The purpose of current study is to find out the frequency of different types of Non-hodgkin lymphoma and its association with age, gender and stage of disease in Pakistani population. Methods: It was a retrospective study conducted at Department of Oncology, Liaquat National Hospital. The study included all patients with histopathological diagnosis of NHL that reported in adult oncology outpatient department from year 2005 to 2015. The pertinent clinical information and demographic data of all the patients were recorded. RESULTS: Total of 214 cases of NHL were reported between 2005 and 2015. Out of 214 patients, 113 (52.8%) were males and 101 (47.2%) were females. The mean age at diagnosis was 50.85 ± 15.64 years. Most of the cases were B cell lymphomas (n=189, 88.32%), had intermediate tumor grade (n=150, 74.61%) and stage 3 disease (n=55, 26.19%). Half of the cases had nodal presentation (n=114, 53.27%). Diffuse large B cell lymphoma was the most common type (n=140, 65.42%), followed by follicular lymphoma (n=17, 7.94%) while the most rare type was T lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (n=3, 1.40%). Age (p<0.001), gender (p=0.001) and tumor grade (p<0.001) were significantly different among subtypes. CONCLUSION: Non-hodgkin lymphoma has different presentations in different geographic locations which could be due to different environmental and lifestyle factors. In our study the male population was predominantly affected. Intermediate grade and nodal lymphomas were more frequent and the median age of presentation was lower than the rest of the world.