Survival outcomes among colorectal cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital: A retrospective cohort study

Background Colorectal cancer is a growing burden in Africa. However, survival for patients with colorectal cancer remains low in sub-Saharan African countries, with the poorest survival, particularly at a late stage at diagnosis. Despite this, there is a paucity of sufficient data about the survival outcomes of colorectal cancer patients in Kenya. Aims This study aimed to determine the survival outcomes among colorectal cancer patients at Kenyatta National Hospital. Methods and Results A retrospective cohort study was employed among 232 eligible medical records of colorectal cancer patients. Simple random sampling was used to select the medical records of the patients. The included medical records of the study participants were followed up retrospectively from the date of primary cancer diagnosis until the last visit to the hospital. All relevant data, such as sociodemographics, clinical characteristics, and outcome-measuring parameters, were recorded in the predesigned data abstraction tool by reviewing the documented clinical records of the patients. The data were entered and analyzed using International Business Machines (IBM) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 software. Mean, median, standard deviation, frequency tables, and figures were used to present the data. Kaplan Meier analyses were employed to determine survival outcomes. The mean age of the study participants was 54.1 +/- 13.3 years, and the majority were males (126, 54.3%). Almost a third (34.1%) of patients had evidence of disease progression despite treatment in the follow-up period, with 7.8% showing no response to therapy and 23.6% experiencing new distant metastasis. The survival rate dwindled from the first year (87.9%) to the fifth year (45.4%), and the mortality rate was 22.8% Conclusion There was a high mortality rate, disease progression, and distant metastasis in the last follow-up period suggesting the need to strengthen the healthcare system by ensuring access to prevention, early diagnosis, and optimal treatment of colorectal cancer.