Stage at diagnosis and survival among adult patients with cancer in Rwanda: A population-based study.

There are marked disparities in cancer survival in low-income countries compared to high-income countries, yet population-based data in the first is largely lacking. In this study, data from the national cancer registry of Rwanda were examined for 542 patients diagnosed with eight of the most common cancers of adults stomach (C16), colorectum (C18-20), liver (C22), breast (female) (C50), cervix (C53), ovary (C56), prostate (C61), and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (C82-85) between 2014 and 2017. Subjects were randomly selected for active followed-up to calculate 1-, 3-, and 5-year observed and relative survival (RS) by cancer type and stage. Overall, 53.7% of cases had died within 5 years of diagnosis. Five-year RS varied by malignancy and ranged from 17.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.7%-32.6%) for liver cancer to 68% (CI: 51.6%-79.8%) for cancers of the prostate. Stage was assigned for 71.6% of patients (n = 388 of 542), with over half (58%) having advanced stage (III/IV) at diagnosis. For all except liver and ovary, stage was a strong predictor of survival; for example, three-year observed survival was 90.9% and 44.8% (p-value: .002) for early and advanced breast cancer, respectively. This study demonstrates that stage specific survival can be obtained from population based cancer registries in sub Saharan Africa, data that are invaluable for international benchmarking, and for local planning and evaluation of cancer control programs.

Stage at diagnosis and survival by stage for the leading childhood cancers in Rwanda.

BACKGROUND: The lack of accurate population-based information on childhood cancer stage and survival in low-income countries is a barrier to improving childhood cancer outcomes. METHODS: In this study, data from the Rwanda National Cancer Registry (RNCR) were examined for children aged 0-14 diagnosed in 2013-2017 for the eight most commonly occurring childhood cancers: acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), Burkitt lymphoma (BL), non-Hodgkin lymphoma excluding BL, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, osteosarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma. Utilising the Toronto Childhood Cancer Stage Guidelines Tier 1, the study assigned stage at diagnosis to all, except HL, and conducted active follow-ups to calculate 1-, 3- and 5-year observed and relative survival by cancer type and stage at diagnosis. RESULTS: The cohort comprised 412 children, of whom 49% (n = 202) died within 5 years of diagnosis. Five-year survival ranged from 28% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 12.5%-45.6%) for BL to 68% (CI: 55%-78%) for retinoblastoma. For the cancers for which staging was carried out, it was assigned for 83% patients (n = 301 of 362), with over half (58%) having limited or localised stage at diagnosis. Stage was a strong predictor of survival; for example, 3-year survival was 70% (95% CI: 45.1%-85.3%) and 11.8% (2.0%-31.2%) for limited and advanced non-HL, respectively (p < .001). CONCLUSION: This study is only the second to report on stage distribution and stage-specific survival for childhood cancers in sub-Saharan Africa. It demonstrates the feasibility of the Toronto Stage Guidelines in a low-resource setting, and highlights the value of population-based cancer registries in aiding our understanding of the poor outcomes experienced by this population.