Survival and discharge rates of burkitts lymphoma patients in Northern Uganda: A case of admissions at St. Mary’s Hospital, Lacor, Gulu

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore the contribution of the presenting demographic, clinical and laboratory characteristics to the length of hospitalization and survival at discharge. The study used administrative data of Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) patients admitted at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor between January 2003 and December 2009. Cox Proportional Hazards Model was the primary method for regression analysis. Most of the admissions during the study period were males (60%). About 74 percent had abdominal tumour involvement; 49 percent presented with tumours in the face and 23 percent had the tumours reaching the Central Nervous System (CNS). All patients with the tumours in the Central Nervous System or abdominal involvement were considered as having the malignancy in its late stages were staged as C or D. Over 70 percent of cases admitted were in stages C or D. On average, the patients were admitted for 96 days (min: 0 max: 325). Though length of hospitalisation was not significantly different across stages (p=0.4854), Stage C and D patients tended to be admitted for a relatively longer period than those staged A and B. About 70 percent of the patients were discharged within 50 – 100 days. About 7 percent of the patients were discharged dead, with all these falling under stages C and D. Stage C and D patients tended to be admitted for a relatively longer period than those staged A and B. Other variables such as sex, age, region or tribe of origin did not have significant effect. Other variables such as sex, age, sub-region or tribe, type of treatment regime did not have significant effect. However, observing that most patients were staged C or D implies late health seeking care behaviour which calls in for efforts to sensitise and encourage communities to refer cases for early treatment.