Prognosis of colorectal cancer in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, the only oncology center in Ethiopia.

IntroductionColorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and the second in females worldwide. According to the Addis Ababa cancer registry, it is the first in male and fourth in female in Ethiopia. However, there have not been studies on prognostic factors and survival of colorectal cancer. Hence, this study aimed to estimate survival time and identify prognostic factors.MethodsIn this institution based retrospective study, medical records review of 422 colorectal cancer patients and telephone interview was used as sources of data. Survival time was estimated using Kaplan-Meier estimator. Prognostic factors were identified using the multivariable Cox regression model.ResultsPatients diagnosed with rectal cancer had 76% (HR: 1.761, 95% CI: 1.173-2.644) increased risk of dying compared to colon cancer patients. Node positive patients were 3.146 (95% CI: 1.626-6.078) times likely to die compared to node-negative and metastatic cancer were 4.221 (95% CI: 2.788-6.392) times likely to die compared to non-metastatic patients. Receiving adjuvant therapy reduced the risk of death by 36.1% (HR: 0.639 (95% CI: 0.418-0.977)) compared to patients who had an only surgical resection. The median survival time was 39 months and the overall five years survival rate was 33%.ConclusionsThe overall survival rate was low and a majority of the patients were young at presentation. Patient's survival is largely influenced by the advanced cancer stage at presentation and delays in the administration of adjuvant therapy. Receiving adjuvant therapy was among the good prognostic factors

Assessment of Hypertension and Other Factors Associated With the Severity of Disease in COVID-19 Pneumonia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A Case-Control Study

BACKGROUND: Various reports suggested that pre-existing medical illnesses, including hypertension and other demographic, clinical, and laboratory factors, could pose an increased risk of disease severity and mortality among COVID-19 patients. This study aimed to assess the relation of hypertension and other factors to the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia in patients discharged from Eka Kotebe Hospital in June-September, 2020. METHODS: This is a single-center case-control study of 265 adult patients discharged alive or dead, 75 with a course of severe COVID-19 for the cases arm and 190 with the non-severe disease for the control arm. Three age and sex-matched controls were selected randomly for each patient on the case arm. Chi-square, multivariable binary logistic regression, and odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval was used to assess the association between the various factors and the severity of the disease. A p-value of \u3c0.05 is considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Of the 265 study participants, 80% were male. The median age was 43 IQR(36-60) years. Both arms had similar demographic characteristics. Hypertension was strongly associated with the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia based on effect outcome adjustment (AOR = 2.93, 95% CI 1.489, 5.783, p-value = 0.002), similarly, having diabetes mellitus (AOR = 3.17, 95% CI 1.374, 7.313, p-value\u3c0.007), chronic cardiac disease (AOR = 4.803, 95% CI 1.238-18.636, p\u3c0.023), and an increase in a pulse rate (AOR = 1.041, 95% CI 1.017, 1.066, p-value = 0.001) were found to have a significant association with the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertension was associated with the severity of COVID-19 pneumonia, and so were diabetes mellitus, chronic cardiac disease, and an increase in pulse rate

Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes of COVID-19 Patients at Eka Kotebe General Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Data from much of Africa are still scarce on the clinical characteristics, outcomes of treatment, and factors associated with disease severity and mortality of COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Eka Kotebe General Hospital, Ethiopia\u27s first COVID-19 treatment center. All consecutive symptomatic SARS CoV-2 RT-PCR positive individuals, aged 18 and older, admitted to the hospital between March 13 and September 16, 2020, were included. Of the total 463 cases, 319 (68.9%) were male. The median age was 45 years (interquartile range 32-62). The most common three symptoms were cough (69%), shortness of breath (SOB; 44%), and fatigue (37%). Hypertension was the most prevalent comorbidity, followed by diabetes mellitus. The age groups 40 to 59 and ≥ 60 were more likely to have severe disease compared with those \u3c 40 years of age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.45, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.88-6.31 and aOR = 3.46, 95% CI: 1.91-6.90, respectively). Other factors associated with disease severity included the presence of any malignancy (aOR = 4.64, 95% CI: 1.32-16.33) and SOB (aOR = 3.83, 95% CI: 2.35-6.25). The age group ≥ 60 was significantly associated with greater in-hospital mortality compared with those \u3c 40 years. In addition, the presence of any malignancy, SOB, and vomiting were associated with higher odds of mortality. In Ethiopia, most COVID-19 patients were male and presented with cough, SOB, and fatigue. Older age, any malignancy, and SOB were associated with disease severity; these factors, in addition to vomiting, also predicted mortality