Association between Age, Tumour Location and Survival of Patients in Morocco

Abstract

Aims: Cancer is a major burden of disease worldwide. Each year, tens of millions of people are diagnosed with cancer around the world, and more than half of the patients eventually die from it. The present work aims to bring out the association between age, tumour location and survival of patients. Methodology: The present work consists in a retrospective study carried out in an oncology Centre in Rabat and based on a sample of 1756 cases of cancer treated during the period January 2005 - December 2006. Results: The mean age of patients is 53.49±14.98 years and men are significantly older than women. The results of the first part of this study show that patients who are between 40 and 60 years old are affected by 47.4% of all cancers. As for the influence of age on the tumour location, we noticed that testicles cancer, leukaemia and Hodgkin lymphoma affect particularly the youngest population whereas the oldest population suffers more from the cancers of prostate, bladder, liver and gall bladder. Furthermore, patients who are between 50 and 60 years old have a higher risk to die from cancer which would be due to lung and liver cancers that are known for their bad vital prognosis. Finally, we found that children and elderly people survive the least to cancer which would be attributable to their health that is rather fragile. Conclusion: More efforts should be made by health authorities in Morocco to fight against cancer especially in age groups with bad vital prognosis.