Abstract
Background: Cancers have been a major public health problem in developing countries in recent years. The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological profile of digestive cancers in secondary and tertiary health care facilities in Cameroon. Methodology: This was a cross sectional and descriptive study conducted over a period of 12 months in 14 health structures over the national territory. Included in our study were patients aged 15 and above with a histologically proven digestive cancer, patients with a clinical, biological and morphologic evidence of a digestive cancer. Socio-demographic (age, gender, region of origin, profession), clinical (symptoms on diagnosis, personal and family past history, consumption habits, tumour location) and paraclinical data were recorded on a pretested questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS version 20.0. Quantitative data was expressed as means with their corresponding standard deviations. Chi square was used for correlation between variables. A P value 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Five hundred and eighty-two cases of digestive cancers were recorded out of 37,780 consultations/admissions during the study period giving a prevalence of 1.5% with a male predominance (58.1%). The mean age was 53.11 ± 17.26 years (15 - 99) with 33.8% of them below 45 years of age. Tumours were predominantly localized in the liver (43.5%) and colon (24.9%). Adenocarcinoma was the most common histological type in 44.5% of all cases. Alcohol consumption was found to be associated with colorectal cancer (p = 0.028) while tobacco consumption was found to be significantly associated with oesophageal cancer (p ≤ 0.001) and gastric cancer (p = 0.0047). Conclusion: A third of patients with digestive cancers were aged less than 45 years suggesting an early onset of these cancers in our setting. Relatively low prevalence with the liver being the most common site of localisation in our setting.
Highlights
The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological profile of digestive cancers in secondary and tertiary health care facilities in Cameroon
Five hundred and eighty-two cases of digestive cancers were recorded out of 37,780 consultations/admissions during the study period giving a prevalence of 1.5% with a male predominance (58.1%)
One of the difficulties remains the availability of clinical pathology laboratories in the district hospitals delaying diagnosis and management
Summary
Cancer is one of the major causes of death in adults. One out of 10 deaths worldwide is associated with cancer related causes [1] [2]. We have very few clinical pathology laboratories and clinical pathologists in Cameroon and data on the epidemiologic and clinical profile of digestive cancers is rare. We sought to determine the epidemiological and clinical profile of patients with digestive cancers. The aim of this study was to determine the epidemiological profile of digestive cancers in secondary and tertiary health care facilities in Cameroon. Included in our study were patients aged 15 and above with a histologically proven digestive cancer, patients with a clinical, biological and morphologic evidence of a digestive cancer. Results: Five hundred and eighty-two cases of digestive cancers were recorded out of 37,780 consultations/admissions during the study period giving a prevalence of 1.5% with a male predominance (58.1%).
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