A profile of leukaemias in adults managed at the University Of Calabar Teaching Hospital in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Types and proportions of leukaemias in adults tend to vary from one institution to another. These are due to a variety of factors that may be examined after establishing and describing the status of leukaemias in a particular setting. The results inform planning for management and impacts on outcomes of intervention.

Objective: To determine the types and trend of adult leukaemia managed at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital.

Design: This was a cross sectional retrospective study of the adult leukaemias seen at the Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar (UCTH).

Setting: The Haematology Department of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) Nigeria.

Population: All adults managed for haematological malignancies at the UCTH during the study period of ten-year from August 2009 to December 2018.

Materials and Methods: Data were retrieved from the archives in the hospital including cancer registry, and departmental records. Information that met the study entry criteria was collected using a proforma questionnaire. The following were required for each case: dates of presentation, diagnosis, age, gender, and type of leukaemia. Data was also being further reviewed by the haematologist who had to corroborate with medical records and patients' case-notes. The data were then pooled, screened, collated and entered in a Microsoft Excel 2016 spreadsheet and analysed with IBM SPSS Version 22. Chi-square test was used to determine relationships between the variables. The results were presented using descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages), and graphical charts.

Results: A total of 138 haematological malignancies was seen over a period of ten years. Of which 70 were adult leukaemia, constituting the 50.72% of the total haematological malignancies. Male to female ratio was 1:1. Overall age characteristics; age ranges from 19 to 82 years, mode was 54 years, and median age was 53 years. Male age characteristics range 19 to 78, mean 48.72 ± 12.75, Female age characteristics range 26 to 82, mean 54.25± 10.50. Trend results for each type of leukaemia, in males, in females. The CLL was the most prevalent leukaemia variant with 26.09%, followed by CML 19.57%. The ALL and AML had a prevalence of 2.90% and 2.17% respectively. However, when leukaemia was categorised into types; females revealed CLL and CML 52.78 % and 59.26% of the leukaemias respectively. A peak was observed between 2014 and 2017. The mean age of the patients with leukaemia over the study period was 49.49 ± 16.95 (standard deviation) years. Gender distribution of all types, 4 males had ALL with no female, 17 males and 19 females had CLL, 3 males had AML with no female, 11 males and 16 females had CML.

Conclusion: this study showed that leukaemias in adults in University of Calabar Calabar Teaching Hospital, Cross River State have variable patterns of age and sex. Type of leukaemia also showed similar variations. This study recommends further studies to understand causes of the variations in the profile of leukaemias.