Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Apr 7;6(4):e18415.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018415.

Increase in female liver cancer in the Gambia, West Africa: evidence from 19 years of population-based cancer registration (1988-2006)

Dominique Sighoko  1 , Maria Paula Curado, Denis Bourgeois, Maimuna Mendy, Pierre Hainaut, Ebrima Bah
Affiliations

Increase in female liver cancer in the Gambia, West Africa: evidence from 19 years of population-based cancer registration (1988-2006)

Dominique Sighoko et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignancy worldwide with a high burden in West Africa. Male to female ratios show consistent bias toward males, the biological bases and variations of which are not well understood. We have used data from the Gambian National Cancer Registry to compare trends in incidence of HCC in both genders.

Methods and findings: Two periods were compared, 1988-1997 (early) and 1998-2006 (recent). In addition, the regression program joinpoint was used to assess trends over 19 years. Differences with self-reported ethnicity were assessed for the recent period using population data from 2003 census. Male to female ratio showed a significant decrease between the two periods from 3.28∶1 (95% CI, [2.93-3.65]) to 2.2∶1 (95% CI, [1.99-2.43]). Although rates in males were relatively stable (38.36 and 32.84 for, respectively, early and recent periods), they increased from 11.71 to 14.9 in females with a significant Annual Percentage Change of 3.01 [0.3-5.8] over 19 years and an increase in number of cases of 80.28% (compared to 26% in males). Significant variations in HCC risk, but not in gender ratio were observed in relation with ethnicity.

Conclusion: This analysis of the only national, population-based cancer registry in West Africa shows a significant increase in HCC in females over recent years. This increase may be the consequence of major changes in lifestyle or viral risk factors, in particular obesity and hepatitis C, which have both been documented to increase in West Africa during recent years.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Liver cancer incidence rates per 100000 Gambians by 5-years age groups.
Data from the Gambia National Cancer Registry, 1998–2006.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Male comparative liver cancer trends over two periods of 10 (1988–1997) and 9 (1998–2006) years, by age group.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Female comparative liver cancer trends over two periods of 10 (1988–1997) and 9 (1998–2006) years, by age group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Viviani S, Carrieri P, Bah E, Hall AJ, Kirk GD, et al. 20 years into the Gambia Hepatitis Intervention Study: assessment of initial hypotheses and prospects for evaluation of protective effectiveness against liver cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008;17:3216–3223. - PubMed
    1. Parkin DM, Bray F, Ferlay j, Pisani P. Global cancer statistics, 2002. CA Cancer J Clin. 2005;55:74–108. - PubMed
    1. CANCER Epidemiology and Prevention. Third ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006.
    1. Jie X, Lang C, Jian Q, Chaoqun L, Dehua Y, et al. Androgen activates PEG10 to promote carcinogenesis in hepatic cancer cells. Oncogene. 2007;26:5741–5751. - PubMed
    1. Sighoko D, Bah E, Haukka J, McCormack VA, Aka EP, et al. Population-based breast (female) and cervix cancer rates in The Gambia: evidence of ethnicity-related variations. Int J Cancer. 2010;127:2248–2256. - PubMed

Publication types