An assessment of survival outcomes among ovarian cancer patients at the National and Referral Hospital in Kenya

Abstract

Abstract Background Ovarian cancer has been shown to have poor survival outcomes attributed to late presentation. In Kenya, information on the survival outcomes of ovarian cancer patients is scarce. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the survival outcomes among patients with ovarian cancer treated at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Aims A hospital‐based retrospective cohort study was performed at KNH to examine the survival outcomes of 112 ovarian cancer patients. The study employed a structured data abstraction tool to acquire patients' relevant socio‐demographic and clinical characteristics from the patient's medical records. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 29.0 statistical software. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses were used to determine the survival outcome and predictors of mortality among ovarian cancer patients, respectively. Methods and results The mean age of the patients in this study was 51.28 ± 14.24 years. Most patients (59.8%) had evidence of distant metastasis during the follow‐up period. One‐third (33%) of patients were deceased. The mean‐cancer‐specific survival time among the study participants was 40.0 ± 3.0 months. The 5‐year survival rate was 44%, with most patients experiencing disease progression during the last follow‐up. Combination therapy (p < .001) was the only statistically significant predictor of mortality in ovarian cancer patients. Conclusion The study found that the 5‐year survival rate among ovarian cancer patients was poor, with most patients experiencing disease progression during the last follow‐up period.

Keywords

• Kenyatta National Hospital
• ovarian cancer
• survival outcomes