A Review of Cancer Research Studies in Albania: how publications influence cancer prevention

Abstract

Nowadays, cancer is the second leading cause of death in Albania. Most cancer cases are detected at later stages when chances of healing are scarce. Although considerable financial resources for cancer research are allocated worldwide, efforts to implement the data obtained from such work are still lagging behind. A review of research done in the country on cancer is important as results reported worldwide. The aim is to review the cancer research studies performed in Albania focusing on risk factors, early detection and on screening behaviours. The systematic electronic search for articles published without a time limit included online libraries of Ovid PubMed, Google Scholar, Medline with Full Text and Medscape articles discussing the study objectives. A total of 10 studies were identified which met the inclusion criteria. The categorization was done for the type of cancer included the number of publications, the first author and year of article publishing, method and main results. Most of the studies provided more data on the incidence of different types of cancer, but little information on its association with major risky factors. Also, there are few studies on early detection (ED) focusing on screening behaviors. More cancer research is needed in a larger population in order to strengthen findings and to design effective prevention strategies.