Descriptive epidemiology of colorectal cancer in Burkina Faso

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological profile of colorectal cancers in Burkina Faso. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study of colorectal cancers diagnosed in all anatomy and pathology laboratories in Burkina Faso from 1988 to 2018. Age, sex, nature of the specimens, histo-genetic and histological types were studied. Comparisons were possible using Student's t test and Fisher's Khi2 test. RESULTS: In 31 years, 802 colorectal cancers were diagnosed, representing a mean annual incidence of 25.9 cases ± 7.6. These cancers represented 30.9% of all digestive cancers and were therefore the 2nd most common digestive cancer. The mean age of the patients was 50 years ± 18.1. The sex-ratio was 1.2. In men, the mean age was 50 years ± 11.6 and in women 50 years ± 13. Endoscopic biopsy specimens were studied in 60.7% of cases. The cancers were located in the left colon in 44% of cases, in the right colon in 30.4% of cases and in the rectum in 25.6% of cases. Carcinomas constituted 93.5% of the histo-genetic types. Adenocarcinoma was the histological type in 77.9% of cases. CONCLUSION: The second most common digestive cancer in Burkina Faso, colorectal cancer occurs at a relatively young age. It is predominantly male. However, the average age of occurrence is identical in both sexes. Adenocarcinoma is the most frequent histological type. Access to mass screening would allow a better understanding of the frequencies. KEYWORDS: Epidemiology; Colorectal cancers; Burkina Faso.