Survival factors of Burkitts Lymphoma patients at discharge: The case of St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor in Northern Uganda

Abstract

The purpose was to explore the contribution of the presenting demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics to the survival status at discharge and duration of admission. The study used secondary data of the Burkitts Lymphoma (BL) patients who were admitted at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor between the period 2003 and 2009. Regressive methods were developed to establish the factors explaining the dependent variables. Whereas majority of the admissions were males (60%), the proportion of females diagnosed with the cancer progressively increased more than that of males over years. Regardless of any other anatomic site involved; 74 percent of the patients had abdominal tumors, 49 percent had tumors in the face and 23 percent had tumors in the CNS. Females were more likely to have abdominal tumor involvement than males. On the other hand, males were twice more likely to have facial or CNS tumor involvement than the females. Over 80 percent of the patients were staged C or D suggesting delays in seeking for treatment. Patients with adnominal or CNS tumor involvement were more likely to be staged C or D. Seven percent died within the average admission period of 96 days. All deaths were observed among stages C and D patients. The duration of admission between the discharged dead and alive was significantly different. Stage C and D patients tended to have longer duration of admission. Further, older patients tended to have a longer duration of admission than the younger ones. Other variables such as sex, and site tumor involvement did not have a significant effect on the duration of admission. The duration of admission and survival status tended to influence each other. Though marginal, age at admission had a significant role to play in explaining the length of admission. The deaths before admission were observed among stage C and D patients, of which over 80% of the patients were staged. This calls in a community-level follow-up study to assess their survival. The above findings suggest an accelerated risk to death among the discharged stage C and D patients.