Cancer survival in the Gambia, 1993-1997

The national cancer registry of the Gambia was established in 1986 as part of the Gambia Hepatitis Intervention Study in collaboration with IARC, France; Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratories of the UK; and the Government of the Gambia at MRC, Banjul. Registration of incident cancer cases is done by active and passive methods. For this study, the registry contributed data on survival for six cancer sites or types registered during 1993-1997. Follow-up has been carried out predominantly by active methods with median follow-up ranging between 1-6 months. The proportion of histologically verified diagnosis for various cancers ranged between 1-45%, and 54-82% of total registered cases were included for survival analysis. Complete follow-up at five years from the incidence date ranged between 81-98% for different cancers. The 5-year age-standardized relative survival for selected cancers were cervix (23%), non-Hodgkin lymphoma (22%), breast (10%), stomach (4%) and liver (3%). The 5-year relative survival by age group showed fluctuations with no definite pattern or trend emerging, and with no survivors in many age intervals.