Pattern and outcomes of childhood malignancies at Ahmadu bello university teaching hospital, Zaria

Predictors of mortality and loss to follow up among children with malignancies in a resource constraint community in Nigeria

“…The finding of solid tumours as the commonest malignancies in this study is in consonance with reports from other studies and has been linked to embryonal tumours occurring mostly in early childhood, predominantly among children underfive, which were the major age group category in this study. 10,11,14,15,22 Male preponderance in this study is also comparable to reports from previous studies conducted in Nigeria and is thought to be as a result of cultural factors as more males than females often benefit form medical attention in our setting. [9][10][11][12]14,15,24 The occurrence of high in-hospital mortality in this study is comparable to reports from other studies conducted in Nigeria, some parts of Africa and South America.…”

“…10,11,14,15,22 Male preponderance in this study is also comparable to reports from previous studies conducted in Nigeria and is thought to be as a result of cultural factors as more males than females often benefit form medical attention in our setting. [9][10][11][12]14,15,24 The occurrence of high in-hospital mortality in this study is comparable to reports from other studies conducted in Nigeria, some parts of Africa and South America. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]22 Like in these studies, majority of the subjects in our study presented late, with most (82.9%) of them presenting after a month to more than 3 months of occurrence of the first noticeable symptom and 68.6% having metastatic disease at presentation.…”

“…[9][10][11][12]14,15,24 The occurrence of high in-hospital mortality in this study is comparable to reports from other studies conducted in Nigeria, some parts of Africa and South America. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]22 Like in these studies, majority of the subjects in our study presented late, with most (82.9%) of them presenting after a month to more than 3 months of occurrence of the first noticeable symptom and 68.6% having metastatic disease at presentation. In well-resourced countries, a good number of children less than 15 years of age are said to commence treatment less than a month from the onset of symptoms.…”

“…High rates of mortality have been variously reported by studies conducted in Nigeria and beyond, and have been attributed to late presentation and diagnosis, limited treatment options, lack of manpower, specialized facilities and palliative support, with the burden of treatment mainly born by the caregivers. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] In wellresourced countries with better management techniques, newer, more potent drugs and adjuvant therapies, the outcome has been encouraging with about 7-8 out of every 10 children with cancer achieving cure. [19][20][21] Long term follow up of cancer cases is also a challenge in resource constraint settings like ours.…”

Pattern of childhood acute leukemia presentation at a tertiary hospital in Nigeria: a five-year review

“…In a similar study by Ahmad et al more than half of their patients with childhood malignancy did not complete their treatment. 16 These high percentages in both studies could be due to the financial burden associated with the treatment of the disease, ignorance and poor supportive therapies in terms of blood and blood products.…”