The pattern and distribution of cancers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Gastric cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa - a systematic review of primary data

Introduction

Gastric cancer (GC) is the third leading cause of global cancer-related mortality. Despite the shifting burden of GC to low-and middle-income countries, the data regarding incidence, treatment, and outcomes in these settings are sparse. The primary aim of this systematic review was to aggregate all available data on GC in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to describe the variability in incidence across the region.

Methods

Studies reporting population-based primary data on GC in SSA were considered. The inclusion was limited to primary studies published between January 1995 and March 2022 which comprised of adult patients in SSA with GC. Studies without accessible full text in either French or English language were excluded. Unadjusted GC incidence rates with their standard errors for each study were recalculated from the crude numerators and denominators provided in individual studies.

Results

A total of 5,626 articles were identified in the initial search, of which, 69 studies were retained. Reported incidence rates ranged from a high of 5.56 GC cases per 100,000 in Greater Meru Kenya to a low of 0.04 GC cases per 100,000 people in Benin City Nigeria. The overall crude pooled incidence was 1.20 GC cases per 100, 000 (95%CI 1.15-1.26) with a variability of 99.83% (I2 p < 0.001). From the 29 high-quality population-based registry studies the crude pooled incidence was 1.71 GC cases per 100,000 people (95%CI 1.56-21.88) with a variability of 99.60%.

Conclusion

This systemic review demonstrates that GC incidence is highly variable across SSA. The limited data on GC treatment, mortality, and survival presents a significant challenge to providing a complete epidemiologic description of the burden of GC in SSA. There is a need for further robust data collection, exploration, and research studies on cancer care in SSA, with continued assessment of primary data availability.

Cancer histotypes and trends in Azare, Northeast Nigeria: impact of diagnostic support disparity in data reporting

Background

Definitive, affordable, and timely diagnosis of cancer is key to providing data for surveillance and control programmes. Care disparities have been shown to contribute to poorer survival, especially in resource-constrained populations. Here, we describe the profile of histologically diagnosed cancers in our hospital and highlight the possible effects of inadequate diagnostic support on data reporting.

Methods

We designed a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study to review histopathology reports archived at the Department of Pathology of our hospital spanning from January 2011 to December 2022. Cases diagnosed as cancer were retrieved and classified by systems, organs and histology types alongside the patient's age and gender. The trend in the volume of pathology requests and the corresponding malignant diagnosis yield over the period was also documented. Data generated were analyzed statistically using appropriate statistics and presented as proportions and means, with the level of statistical significance set at p < 0.05.

Results

There were 488 cancers out of 3,237 histopathology requests received within the study period. Of these 316 (64.7%) were females. Overall mean age was 48.8 ± 18.6 years with a peak age at the sixth decade, females being significantly younger (46.1 versus 53.5 years; p < 0.001). The top five cancers were breast (22.7%), cervical (12.7%), prostate (11.7%), skin (10.7%) and colorectal cancers (8%). Among females, breast, cervical and ovarian cancers predominated, whereas prostate, skin and colorectal cancers, were commonest among males in decreasing order. Paediatric malignancies accounted for 3.7% of all the cases, most being small round blue cell tumours. The volume of pathology requests rose remarkably from 95 cases in 2014 to 625 cases in 2022 with a corresponding increase in cancer case diagnoses.

Conclusion

Cancer subtypes and ranking in this study are similar to those from urban populations in Nigeria and Africa, despite the low number of cases recorded. Efforts to reduce the disease burden are warranted.

Three-decade quantitative evaluation of cancer-related research in Nigeria from 1990-2019

Introduction: There exists a knowledge gap in the quality and quantity of cancer-related research in Nigeria. This review gives a report on cancer research literature indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) in Nigeria from 1990 -2019. Materials and methods: The data used in the present study were published research papers retrieved from the Web of Science. Results: A total of 629 research articles were published within this period across 276 journals. The highest number of articles was published in 2019 (n = 62), while the least was in 1992 (n = 2). However, the last ten years witnessed explosive growth, and it accounted for 63% of the total number of articles. The most relevant authors are Olapade HI (33 articles), Huo D (28 articles), and Ogundiran TO (21 articles). The most relevant sources in the area of cancer research in Nigeria are Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice (52 articles), East African Medical Journal (23 articles), and African Health Sciences (21 articles). The most relevant author's affiliations are University of Ibadan (n=206), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (n = 115), and Obafemi Awolowo University (n = 105). Conclusion: The results from this study show that Nigerian institutions need to collaborate extensively with foreign institutions and partner with industries in order to improve the quality of their research output.

Major depressive disorders in outpatients with cancers at the Nigerian National Hospital

OBJECTIVE

Frequently, little attention is paid by clinicians on the psychiatric disorders that may be associated with cancers. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of major depressive disorders in outpatients with cancers at the Radiology Oncology Centre of the National Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria. It also sought to determine the socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with the disorder.

METHOD

A sample of 177 randomly selected outpatients with cancers was interviewed with socio-demographic questionnaire and the major depressive episode section of the Mini International NeuroPsychiatric Interview at the hospital.

RESULTS

The mean age (SD) of the participants was 48.9 (13.8) years, with females accounting for 61.6% of them. The prevalence of current major depressive disorder, past depressive episode and recurrent depressive disorder were 25.1%, 24.3% and 7.5%, respectively. The current depressive disorder was found to be significantly associated with the presence of disturbing pain and the stage of the disease.

CONCLUSION

The occurrence of depressive disorders in patients with cancers at the hospital was high. Their assessment and treatment should be prioritized to ensure complete management of the patients with cancer conditions.

Urine Cytology as Seen in Uyo, Nigeria: How Relevant Is It to Medical Practice?

Aim:

The aim of this study is to know the pattern of urine cytology (UC) requests seen in Uyo and how relevant they were to the management of the patients.

Materials and Methods:

This retrospective study was carried out in the Department of Pathology, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital. The extracted data from the cytology registers were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 17.

Results:

A total of 46 patients did UC during the period. The patients were aged between 21 years and 90 years, with a mean age of 56.89 ± 14.65. Thirty (67.4%) were male. The age group of 60–69 years accounted for most cases (37.8%). Suspicion of bladder cancer was the most common indication as it was seen in 28.9% (n = 13) of cases. Thirty-eight cases (84.4%) were referred from urology clinic, 2 each (4.4%) from general outpatient clinic, general surgery clinic, and from gynecology clinic. In 44.4% (n = 20) of cases, the cytological diagnosis was inflammatory smear, while the UC was normal in 24.4% (n = 11) cases. Malignant cells were seen in 11.1% of (n = 5) cases. Of the 13 cases that the indication was suspected bladder cancer, only four were positive for malignant cells and one was suspicious on UC. No malignant cell or suspicious cell was seen in any of the UC specimens from patients that had prostate cancer, lower urinary tract outlet obstruction with hematuria due to prostatic enlargement.

Conclusion:

UC should not be requested for in prostatic diseases since the reports are always negative or at most inflammatory. The department should start using The Paris System of UC reporting to assist the managing physician/surgeon to take the best decision.