Pattern of multiple myeloma in Kenyans

A study of 75 myeloma patients diagnosed at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, is presented. The male to female ratio was 1.7:1; the mean age +/- s.d. was 51.5 +/- 12.5 (range 16-80) years; the peak age incidence of 32% occurred in the sixth decade. A combination of: anaemia (81.3%), osteolytic lesions on X-ray skeletal survey (80%), bone pains (66.7%) and an ESR above 50mm/hr (77.3%) formed an important diagnostic tetrad. Other significant findings included: hypoalbuminaemia (76%), elevated leukocyte alkaline phosphatase (61.3%), uraemia (54.7%), upper respiratory tract infections (44%), elevated serum creatinine (34.7%), raised alkaline phosphatase (33.3%), pathological fractures (32%), hyperuricaemia (30.7%) and hypercalcaemia (29.3). The study confirms that the disease is not infrequent in indigenous Kenyan Africans as previous literature seemed to suggest. Poor prognosis was significantly (p less than 0.05) associated with hypoalbuminaemia, raised serum blood urea, hyperuricaemia and an elevated serum creatinine level.