A Five-Year Epidemiological Profile of Patients with Cancer Managed by a Haitian Cancer Program.

10564 Background: Cancer epidemiology in Haiti is poorly understood. The national cancer registry is not functional, and data reported by GLOBOCAN are estimations that do not totally reflect the reality of cancers in Haiti. The aim of this study was to present the five-year epidemiology of malignancies managed by one of the main cancer programs in Haiti. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients aged 15 years old and above with pathological and/or clinical diagnosis of cancer managed from January 2016 to December 2020 at Innovating Health International (IHI), a cancer center located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The chart review collected variables such as age, gender, date of admission and cancer type in order to present this epidemiological profile of cancers. Results: Overall, 3060 patients with cancer were managed during the study period. 84.4% of the patients were female and 15.6% male. The mean and median ages of the study population were respectively 52.5 [range: 15 –92] and 53.0 years. Adolescents and young adults (15-39 years old) represented 18.9 % of this cohort and geriatric cases (≥ 65 years old) were 21.0%. Breast cancer was the most common type (n = 1391, 45.5%%), followed by gynecological cancers (n = 746, 24.4%) with cervical cancer representing 77.5 % of these cases (n = 578); gastrointestinal cancers (n = 252, 8.2%) dominated by colorectal (n = 92, 36.5%) and gastric cancer (n = 58, 23.0%); head and neck cancers (n = 129, 4.2%); hematological malignancies (n = 128, 4.2%) with lymphomas representing 60.9% of the cases (n = 78); sarcomas (n = 114, 3.7%), urological cancers (n = 73, 2.4%) with prostate cancer representing 56.1% of the cases; skin cancers including melanoma (n = 60, 1.9%); lung cancer (n = 24, 0.8%); thyroid cancer (n = 13, 0.4%) and central nervous system (CNS) cancers (n = 6, 0.2%). 4.1% of the patients (n = 124) had a cancer of unknown primary (CUP). Breast (53.5%), cervical (28.9%) and gastrointestinal (5.0%) cancers were the most common types among women, while gastrointestinal (25.8%), hematological (16.1%), head and neck (14.7%) and urological (12.6%) cancers were the most diagnosed among men. Conclusions: Cancer mainly affects Haiti’s young, active and female population. Breast and cervical cancers were the most prevalent in this retrospective cohort regardless of the age group. The under-representation of prostate and other urological malignancies, lung cancer, acute leukemias and CNS cancers was likely due to underdiagnosis, misdiagnosis, under-referral or early mortality. An active cancer registry is needed to better evaluate the real cancer burden in Haiti.