Utilisation of Radiation Oncology Services by Patients with Head and Neck Malignancies in a Nigerian Tertiary Care Hospital: A 5-Year Retrospective Study.

Abstract

Background: Radiation oncology services are luxuries in resource-challenged settings that should not be underutilised; however, no studies are available on their utilisation.

Objectives: To determine the rate and pattern of utilisation of radiation oncology services in a Nigerian teaching hospital.

Materials and methods: All cases of head and neck cancers diagnosed and referred to the Department of Radiation Oncology, of a Nigerian Tertiary Care Hospital, from January 2018 to December 2023 were retrospectively analysed. Data were extracted from the case notes of the patients. Those patients with incomplete information were excluded. Demographic and clinical data were collected. Demographic data included were age, sex, religion, and place of residence, while the clinical data were regional location of cancer, nature of the tumour, origin of tumour, histological type and grade of tumour, and referring department. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were determined. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 23.0 software (IBM, Armonk, New York). A value of P < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: A total of 13,690 patients presented for the radiation oncology treatment, of which 1777 patients were treated for head and neck cancer, giving a prevalence of 0.56%. The age 18 range was 20-78 years with a mean age of 49.4 ± 13.7 years. More than half (77%) of the patients were older than 60 years. Two-thirds (74%) of the patients were males. Most (46.8%) of the lesions were on the oral region, which was followed by the nasal region (25%), while the least (6.5%) were observed on the cervical region. More than two-thirds (87%) originated from epithelial cells. In the same vein, the majority (88.3%) were non-odontogenic in origin. More than half (51.9%) were squamous cell carcinomas. Most (51.9%) of the patients were referred from the Department Of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. Ethnicity significantly affected the nature of the tumour (P < 0.05), as did the histological types (P < 0.05) of head and neck cancers. Religion was associated with the type of referring departments (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The utilisation of radio-oncological services was high. There was significant distribution of referrals, histological types and types of tumours according to religion and ethnicity.