Five-year survival rate of cancer patients in Ethiopia – systematic review and meta-analysis, 2022

Abstract

Background: Cancer and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were once thought to be diseases of high-income countries. However, new studies suggest that they are now a major public health burden in low- and middle-income countries as well. The rate of survival after diagnosis significantly varied across types of cancer and the treatment options they received. Therefore, we conducted this study to determine the survival status of cancer patients in Ethiopia. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases from inception to 10 April 2022 were searched to identify relevant studies. A funnel plot and Egger’s regression test were used to determine publication bias. The I 2 statistic was used to check heterogeneity between the studies. DerSimonian and Laird random effects model was applied to estimate pooled effect size and 95% confidence interval across studies. Sensitivity analysis was deployed to determine the effect of a single study on the overall estimation, and the analysis was done using STATA Version 14 software. Results: A total of 19 studies with 12 847 study participants were included to estimate the pooled survival rate of cancer patients. The estimated pooled survival rate of cancer patients in Ethiopia was 57.15 (95% CI: 56.34–57.97). Regarding the subgroup analysis, based on cancer type, the highest pooled survival rate was recorded among prostate cancer patients at 80.47 (95% CI: 73.60–87.34), followed by cervical cancer patients at 60.89 (95% CI: 37.78–84.00) while the smallest was among colorectal cancer patients at 40.04 (95% CI: 9.11–70.9) and based on study design the highest pooled survival rate was among prospective cohort study at 63.91 (95% CI: 30.86–96.96). Based on publication year, the highest pooled survival rate was recorded in 2020 with 69.61 (95% CI: 48.51–90.70), followed by in 2018 at 63.13 (95% CI: 50.01–76.25). Conclusion: The survival rate of cancer patients is low in Ethiopia. This demonstrates that the survival of cancer patients is a major problem in Ethiopia. Therefore, situation-based interventions and preventive strategies should be developed to enhance the survival rate of cancer patients.