Clinical and demographic characteristics of cervical cancer patients presenting at Parirenyatwa Hospital, Zimbabwe

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women in Africa, predominately due to late diagnosis. This study aims to identify risk factors, potential prognostic indicators, and optimal treatment modalities for Zimbabwean cervical cancer patients. Medical records for 1063 cervical cancer patients were reviewed for sociodemographic, clinical, treatment, and response data. All data were analysed using SPSS version 25. More than half of the cohort was pre-menopausal (63%) with low (2%) history of cervical cancer screening. Schistosoma ova were observed in 2.4% of the tumour specimens. More than 50% were diagnosed at stage 3 and later, with a high frequency of comorbidities (~68%). This study highlights a need for improving screening education and uptake in Zimbabwe. Moreover, the current data provides a dataset for understanding cervical cancer pathogenesis and treatment responses in an African cohort.

Keywords: Clinicopathological profile; Zimbabwe; black African; cervical cancer; chemotherapy.