[Survival analysis of cervical cancer patients]

Uterine cervical cancer is the first cause of incidence and mortality in Colombian women. Nearly 10% of all the cases in the country are treated at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerología. Evaluation of the institutional success rates is suggested.

Patient survival over a 5 year period was summarized for those admitted for treatment of cervical cancer at the Institute in the year 2000.

All patients with cervical cancer at the Institute in 2000 were included in the survival analysis. Frequencies, central tendencies and dispersion measures were used to describe categorical and numerical variables. Survival analysis was performed by using Kaplan Meier and the multivariate Cox regression model.

During the study period, 651 patients with cervical cancer were treated. Among the 455 eligible patients, 303 (66%) were alive at the end of the study period. Mean survival time for patients who did not die was 3.69 years, with a standard deviation of 2.58 years. Cumulated five year overall survival probability was 58.8% and mean survival was 4.53 years. The only variable that significantly affected the survival function was the clinical stage at the time of the diagnosis.

Overall survival results are similar to those described in other international institutions. If larger cohort studies were used, the power of the study can be increased in order to identify other factors associated with the prognosis.