Time to death and associated factors of Colorectal Cancer Patients in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a cancer of the large intestine. Anatomically, it also is known as colon cancer or rectal cancer but when both present with similar features they are termed colorectal cancer. It is a common health problem, representing the third most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and causing a significant burden in terms of morbidity and mortality. In Ethiopia CRC is the third most common cancer next to breast and uterine cancer for females, but the first most common cancer among the male population. The main objective of the study was to investigate the associated factors that affect the time to death of CRC patients in TASH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The retrospective cohort study was conducted on 325 CRC patients who enrolled between January 1, 2017, and December 30, 2020, in TASH, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This study used survival time analysis and comparing the survival curve in different groups of variables.

In this study, out of the total 325 patients, 111(34.15%) died and 214(65.85%) were censored until the end of the study. Large percentages (83.08%) of the patients were diagnosed at late stages and more than three-fifth (61.26%) of the patients that had been diagnosed at stage IV died. The overall Kaplan- Meier plot also showed that the follow-uptime of CRC patients increased, the survival probability of patients would be decreased. This indicated that the probability of survival was the highest on the first day of diagnosis of colorectal cancer, but it relatively fell later as follow up time increases. Our finding also showed that Non-alcohol user patients had a higher probability of survival than alcohol user patients. The estimated median survival time of colorectal cancer patients was 23 months. There were significant differences in survival experience among groups of family history, alcohol consumption, comorbidity, physical exercise, stage, tumor grade, and treatment modality.

From our findings, it is better to implement colorectal cancer early screening and detection programs to improve survival outcomes.