Prevalence, Demographic Patterns, and Outcome of Childhood Malignancies in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria: A 15-Year Retrospective Study
| Autor: | Edamisan Temiye, Oluwakemi Otokiti |
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| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | American Journal of Clinical Pathology. 152:S89-S90 |
| ISSN: | 1943-7722 0002-9173 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/ajcp/aqz117.011 |
| Popis: | Objectives Childhood cancers are increasingly recognized as a cause of childhood morbidity and mortality following improvement in immunization programs and sanitation against communicable diseases. With improvement in health care, better survival outcomes have been reported in childhood cancers worldwide. However, mortality associated with childhood cancers remains high in developing countries. This study aims to determine the prevalence, demographic characteristics, and outcome of childhood cancers seen in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria. Methods A retrospective study analyzed 749 cases of childhood malignancies between 2003 and 2017. Data on gender, age at diagnosis, diagnosis, and outcome were extracted using a data extraction proforma. Data were analyzed using SPSS v23. P value of .05 was considered statistically significant. Results Median age at diagnosis was 4.75 years with a male to female ratio of 1.3:1. Highest prevalence was noticed with hematological malignancies (41%), Wilm’s tumor (18%), retinoblastoma (13%), and soft tissue tumors (6.5%) and lowest prevalence with testicular cancers (0.3%). Apart from liver malignancy, males had a higher incidence in all malignancies. Median age at diagnosis was 12 years for nasopharyngeal carcinoma, 11 years for bone cancers, 8 years for gynecological cancers, 6 years for hematological cancers, and 0.47 years for testicular cancers. Overall mortality rate was 30%, and a significant number (53%) were lost to follow-up (discharged against medical advice, defaulted, financial burden, medical tourism). Hematological malignancies had the highest mortality rates, with Wilm’s tumor having best survival chances (lowest mortality). Conclusion Prevalence patterns mirror what was obtained in other centers (Jos, Ife, and Ibadan). A mortality rate of 30% is significant. Financial burden, religious beliefs, delay in presentation, and ignorance are major hindrances to health care and might contribute significantly to overall mortality and outcome. More needs to be done concerning childhood cancers. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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