The trend of change in cervical tumor size and time to death of hospitalized patients in northwestern Ethiopia during 2018–2022: Retrospective study design

Abstract

Background and Aims: Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancerrelated death in the world. The objective of this study was to determine factors that affect the longitudinal change of tumor size and the time to death of outpat Methods: A retrospective follow-up study was carried out among 322 randomly selected patients with cervical cancer at the University of Gondar Referral Hospital from May 15, 2018 to May 15, 2022. Data were extracted from the patient's chart from all patients' data records. Kaplan-Meier estimator, log-rank test, the Cox proportional-hazard model, and the joint model for the two response variables simultaneously were used.Results: Among 322 outpatients with cervical cancer, 148 (46%) of them were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive and 107 (33.3%) of them died. The results of joint and separate models show that there is an association between survival and the longitudinal data in the analysis; it indicates that there is a dependency between longitudinal terms of cervical tumor size and time-to-death events. A unit centimeter square rise in tumor size, corresponding to an exp (0.8502) = 2.34 times, significantly raised the mortality risk. Conclusion:The study showed that HIV, stage of cancer, treatment, weight, history of abortion, oral contraceptive use, smoking status, and visit time were statistically significant factors for the two outcomes jointly.Implications: As a result, adequate health services and adequate resource allocations are critical for cervical cancer control and prevention programs. Therefore, the government should provide adequate funding and well-trained health professionals to hospitals to sustain screening programs with appropriate coverage of cervical cancer patient treatments.

Common predictors of cervical cancer related mortality in Ethiopia. A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…This study looked at the most common predictors of mortality in cervical cancer patients. Those predictors were, late diagnosis [ 18 – 21 ], radiation therapy only [ 10 , 22 , 23 ], surgery with adjuvant therapy [ 24 – 26 ] and anemic status of the patient [ 27 – 29 ] were selected based on their frequency identified as the predictors by different studies (Table 1 ).…”

Improving cervical cancer continuum of care towards elimination in Ethiopia: a scoping review

“…In the Amhara region, 36.6% of women died in a study conducted at the University of Gondar Hospital from 15 May 2018 to 15 May 2022; they also estimated that the median survival time was 42 months (72). Another study in the same setting estimated that probability of women to death was increased with an increased tumor size (73). Another study in Felegehiwot Comprehensive Specialised Hospital in the Amhara region estimated that the mean survival time was 40.1 months from 25 June 2017 to 31 March 2021 (74).…”

Common Predictors of cervical cancer related mortality in Ethiopia. A systematic review and Meta-analysis

“…This study looked at the most common predictors of mortality in cervical cancer patients. Those predictors were, late diagnosis [19][20][21][22], radiation therapy only [11,23,24], surgery with adjuvant therapy [25][26][27] and anemic status of the patient[28-30] were selected based on their frequency identi ed as the predictors by different studies (Table 1).…”