Aspects épidémiologiques et cliniques des cancers du col de l’utérus au Cameroun: expérience de l’Hôpital Général de Douala

INTRODUCTION: cervical cancer is a public health problem in Cameroon, ranking as the 2(nd) most frequent cancer. The purpose of our study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with cervical cancer at the Douala General Hospital in Cameroon. METHOD: we conducted a retrospective study over the period 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. RESULTS: the study enrolled 357 women. Patients´ age ranged from 25 to 88 years, with an average age of 52.82 ± 12.36 years. Patients from the Western Region were more heavily represented, with a percentage of 42.2% (n= 124/294). The majority of them were unemployed housekeepers (57.3%; n=200/341). The age of first sexual intercourse was recorded for only 37% (n=133/357) of the study population, with an average age of 16.73 ± 2.16 years; while the average age on giving birth to the first child was 18.92 ± 3.44 years. On the other hand, 6.5% (n=11/169) of patients were smokers, while 44% (n=73/166) were alcohol abusers. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common histologic type (85.6%; n=255/298). The most frequent stage at diagnosis was stage IIB (22.3%, n=71/319) followed by stage IIIB (21.6%; n=69/319). CONCLUSION: in Cameroon, cervical cancer commonly occurs in unemployed adult women and it is associated with an advanced-stage diagnosis. Hence the need to improve awareness of prevention and early diagnosis.