Analyses and distribution of various types of cancers recorded in Ife-Ijesha cancer registry in the five year period 2010 -2014

Abstract

This work presents analyses of data on cancers diagnosed and recorded at the  Ife-Ijesa Cancer Registry located at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC) Ile-Ife for the five-year period 2010-2014. Of the 2,042 total cases retrieved from the Registry, 830 were further linked with the  records available at the Medical Records Department of the  OAUTHC to obtain information on geographical residence, occupation, and marital status of the subjects. The records were thereafter exhaustively analyzed using Excel  Spreadsheet and R-statistical package to describe the distribution of the various types of cancer among various demographic groupings. A geo-spatial distribution analysis was used to display the prevalence of cancer on a geographical map of Southwestern Nigeria. For the 2,042 cases, the relative distribution of these cancers, by site, were: Breast (25.5%), Reproductive sites (18%), Blood and Bone Marrow (13.3%), Gastrointestinal Tract, G.I.T. (12.4%), Lymphoma (6.2%), Liver and Gall Bladder (4.4%), Skin (2.7%), Metastatic (2.3%), Cytology (2.1%), Ear, Nose and Throat E.N.T., (2.1%), Lungs (1.9%), Connective tissue (1.9%), Kidney (1.5%), Jaw (1.4%), Endocrine (1.1%), Eye (0.6%) and Others (2.9%). Fifty-seven percent (1169 cases) of these were in female subjects; however, if the 523 cases of breast cancer (all females) were excluded, more cancers (57.5%) would be recorded for males. Indeed, for cancers in Blood and Bones, Kidney, Jaw, and Eye, there were at least twice as many cases in Males than in Females, while for ENT, there were in male subjects, over thrice as many cases as were in females. The average age at diagnosis ranged from 25.0 years for cancers of the Eye to 63.4 years for cancers at reproductive sites. The youngest case was sacrococcygeal teratoma in an 8-day old female subject while the oldest subject was a 101 year female diagnosed with breast cancer. In female subjects below 20 years, there was no record of cancer of the lungs, E.N.T. or Jaw, and there were only very few cancer cases at the Skin and G.I.T. in those subjects. There were no records of cancer of the Liver and Gall  Bladder and metastatic cancer in subjects below 20 years, either male or female. Other results presented are the relationship between reported cases of cancer and Marital Status, Occupation, and Geographical Region of Residence in 830 subjects. It was particularly interesting to see a wide disparity in reported cancer cases from two areas of Ondo West (53 cases) and Ondo East (4 cases) despite comprising of subjects with identical nutritional, lifestyle and cultural habits. This strongly suggests the influence of environmental factors related to the physical geography of the city. It is hoped that this preliminary data will stimulate more interest in the role of the physical environment and similar factors in cancer aetiology and prevention.

Keywords: Cancer Prevalence. Demographic and Geographical distribution