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
. 2022 Apr 22:14:1525-1540.
doi: 10.2147/CMAR.S361485. eCollection 2022.

Treatment Outcomes and Its Associated Factors Among Adult Patients with Selected Solid Malignancies at Kenyatta National Hospital: A Hospital-Based Prospective Cohort Study

Amsalu Degu  1 , Ermias Mergia Terefe  1 , Eliab Seroney Some  1 , Gobezie T Tegegne  2
Affiliations

Treatment Outcomes and Its Associated Factors Among Adult Patients with Selected Solid Malignancies at Kenyatta National Hospital: A Hospital-Based Prospective Cohort Study

Amsalu Degu et al. Cancer Manag Res. .

Abstract

Introduction: The treatment outcome of cancer is poor in the African setting due to inadequate treatment and diagnostic facilities. However, there is a paucity of data on solid cancers in Kenya. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the treatment outcomes and its determinant factors among adult patients diagnosed with selected solid malignancies at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

Materials and methods: A prospective cohort study was employed at the Oncology Department of KNH from 1st July 2020 to 31st December 2021. All new patients with a confirmed diagnosis of lymphoma, prostate cancer and breast cancer were studied. A consecutive sample of 99 breast cancer, 50 lymphomas, and 82 prostate cancer patients was included in the study. Semi-structured questionnaires consisting of socio-demographics, clinical characteristics, and quality of life were employed to collect the data. All enrolled patients were followed prospectively for 12 months. Treatment outcomes were reported as mortality, cancer-specific survival and health-related quality of life. The data were entered and analyzed using the SPSS 20.0 statistical software. Survival outcomes and its predictors were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression analyses, respectively.

Results: The study showed that the mortality rate among breast and prostate cancer patients was 3% and 4.9%, respectively. In contrast, the mortality rate was 10% among lymphoma patients. Most of the patients had partial remission and a good overall global health-related quality of life. Older age above 60 years, co-morbidity, distant metastasis and advanced stages of disease were significant predictors of mortality.

Conclusion: Although the mortality was not high at 12 months, only a few patients had complete remission. For many patients, the disease was progressing, despite 12-month mortality was not high. Therefore, longer follow-up will be required to report cancer mortality accurately. In addition, most of the patients had a good overall global health-related quality of life.

Keywords: Kenyatta National Hospital; health-related quality of life; solid malignancies; treatment outcomes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
TNM staging of the disease among the study participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overall health-related quality of life of the study participants in the last follow up period.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. National Cancer Institute. What is cancer? [Internet]; 2015. [cited October 3, 2018]. Available from: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer. Accessed April 20, 2022.
    1. National Cancer Institute. Cancer classification [Internet]; 2018. [cited October 10, 2018]. Available from: https://training.seer.cancer.gov/disease/categories/classification.html. Accessed April 20, 2022.
    1. World Health Organization. Cancer [Internet]; 2021. [cited January 23, 2022]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer. Accessed April 20, 2022.
    1. Cancer Research UK. Worldwide cancer statistics [Internet]; 2018. [cited May 20, 2018]. Available from: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/wo.... Accessed April 20, 2022.
    1. Gavhane Y, Shete A, Bhagat A, et al. Solid tumors: facts, challenges and solutions. Int J Pharma Sci Res. 2011;2(1):1–12.