Public Health Implications of Types of Cancers in Anatomy-Pathology at the Souro Sanou University Center in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Abstract

: Cancers are the second largest epidemiological burden in Africa. This led us to study the hospital proportions and histological and histogenetic types of cancers in anatomical pathology at the Souro Sanou University Hospital (CHUSS) in Bobo-Dioulasso, and the possible implications for public health. This was a cross-sectional study that ran from June 1 to December 10, 2021 with data inclusion from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2020. The data collected concerned: notified cases of tumors and those diagnosed with cancer, sociodemographic characteristics, location and histological and histogenetic types of these cancers. Of the 6,316 cancer cases notified by the different clinical services from 2013 to 2020, there were 1,388 cases of cancer confirmed (or 22.0%) by histology at the CHUSS anatomy-pathology department. Of the 3,605 specimens analyzed, this represented a malignancy proportion of 38.5%. There was an average annual number of 173.5 confirmed cancer cases per year. For a sex ratio of 0.4 and a female predominance of 72.1%, the average age of the cancer cases was 49.3±3.9 years (extremes from 1 to 92 years), with the 40–60-year age group being the most represented (46.4%) and those under 15 years of age representing 3.2%. The organs most affected by cancer were breast (25.5%), uterus (22.4%) and stomach (9.1%). Breast (32.9%) and cervical (31.1%) cancers were the most common in women. In men, the most frequent cancers were: stomach (19.8%) and prostate (13.9%). Histologically, more than two out of five cancers were carcinomas. Squamous cell carcinomas accounted for 43.37%, and adenocarcinomas were found in 13.61%. There was no difference in histogenetic or histological type according to age or sex. Affecting more the less than 60 years with 75,1%, it is about cancers avoidable by actions of promotion and prevention in public health. This underlines the importance of setting up a cancer registry and organizing cancer care based on promotion and primary prevention.