Retrospective Audit of the Morbidity Pattern in Radiotherapy: A Hospital Based Study in the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Nigeria.

This study documents the current evidence of cancer burden seen over 4 years in the department of radiotherapy and oncology of University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria. Cancer, a noncommunicable disease, is the second most common cause of death only after cardiovascular disease. There is a dearth of literature on hospital based research concerning the morbidity of cancers in Edo State. The aim of the study was to review the pattern of presentation and the morbidity of patients attending a referral care centre in Nigeria. This was a retrospective study made up of 686 cases seen in UBTH and undergoing their radio-therapeutic clinic visits. Patients were seen following referral from UBTH and other referral centres. Patients seen in the oncology unit may not reflect therefore the full spectrum of cancer seen in the hospital. The data were collected from the register, categorized according to diagnosis and place of residence over a period of 4 years from 2013- 2016. The data was analysed using SPSS version 20. A total of 686 cancer patients were registered. Out of these from 24 different states, males were 190 (27.7%) and females were 496 (72.3%). The common cancer sites amongst males were naso-pharyngeal carcinoma (40 cases or 5.8%) and prostatic carcinoma (16 cases or 2.3%). For females, the common cancer sites were the breast cancer (250 cases or 36.4%) and cervical cancer (120 cases or 17.5%). The age ranged between 1 - 98 years. Male to female ratio was 1.0 to 1.5. The study highlights the pattern of cancer among patients in a referral healthcare centre in Nigeria. Therefore, there is an inherent bias, the leading sites of malignancies amongst males and females as it varied with the geographic region of Nigeria was demonstrated. This variation may be attributable to various cultural, environmental, dietary, life style, genetic contributory factors in the study population and finally, comparison was made with other studies analysed. Retrospective study, morbidity pattern, common cancers, Nigerian study population.Keywords: retrospective study, mobility pattern, common cancers, Nigerian study populatio