Analysis of the proportion of university teaching hospital gastric cancer data included in the Zambia national cancer registry

Background: The exact prevalence of gastric cancer in Zambia is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the pro-portion of gastric cancer cases seen at the largest hospital in Zambia, whose records were included in the Zambia National Cancer Registry (ZNCR). Methods: We reviewed gastric cancer records between January 2015 and December 2017 from the University Teaching Hospi-tal, Cancer Diseases Hospital and ZNCR. Statistical analysis was done using Stata version 15. Results: We reviewed 94 patient records (42 were females) with a mean age of 59 years (standard deviation, 14.9). Histologically, the majority of the cases were adenocarcinoma (84%). Of the reviewed records, only 39/94 (42%) had their data included in the ZNCR. Median time to from endoscopic diagnosis to histopathological confirmation was 11 days (inter-quartile range; 7-20). Median time from histological confirmation to the Cancer Diseases Hospital for therapy was 8 days (IQR 2-19). Overall median survival time for gastric cancer patients was 290 days (CI 95%, 112 - 1225). Conclusions: Data on gastric cancer reported in the ZNCR are an underestimate of the true disease burden and there is need to strengthen data collection strategies for gastric cancer in Zambia.