TITLE:
The Epidemiological Profil of Digestive Cancers in Secondary and Tertiary Health Care Facilities in Cameroon
AUTHORS:
Yannick Ekani Boukar Mahamat, Georges Bwelle, Cyrille Chopkeng, Freddy Bombah, Fabrice Tietche Tim, Guy Aristide Bang, Eric Patrick Savom, Divine Mokake, Alain Chichom, Arthur Essomba, Marcellin Ngowe, Maurice Aurelien Sosso
KEYWORDS:
Digestive Cancer, Secondary and Tertiary Health Care Facilities, Cameroon
JOURNAL NAME:
Surgical Science,
Vol.13 No.3,
March
10,
2022
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.