Abstract LB418: Time to adjuvant chemotherapy and its predictors among postoperative breast cancer patients at Cancer Treatment Center of Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Hawassa, Ethiopia in 2022: A retrospective follow-up study
Authors: Deboch Adugna Getahun 
Published: April 2024

Background The incidence of breast cancer is rising and is becoming a major public health problem in Ethiopia, posing a substantial threat to countries with limited oncology centers. Adjuvant chemotherapy is the most important treatment option for breast cancer initiated after definitive surgical management. Adjuvant chemotherapy decreases the risk of breast cancer mortality, reduces the recurrence rate, and improves the long-term overall survival. The time between surgery and the first adjuvant chemotherapy appears to have an impact on the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in patients with breast cancer.

Objective This study aimed to determine the time to start adjuvant chemotherapy and its predictors in post-operative breast cancer patients at oncology center of Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital between September 2020 and March 2022.

Method This institution based retrospective follow-up study was conducted at the Hawassa University Comprehensive Hospital Cancer Treatment Center between September 2020 and March 2022, among all women with breast cancer. All eligible patients whose medical records were available and accessed in the hospital during the study period were enrolled. The checklists were prepared using Google Forms. The data were then exported to Excel and sent to SPSS software version 26 for data analysis. A stratified Cox regression model was used to identify potential predictors. The adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was reported to indicate the strength of the association. This study was conducted between February 22 and April 8, 2022.

Result In this study, the median time to adjuvant chemotherapy was 69 days Interquantile range (IQR)=26) with a range of 28-157 days. Twenty (12.9%) patients started chemotherapy in less than 30 days, 36 (23.2%) patients waited for 31-60 days, 68 (43.9%) patients initiated chemotherapy within 61-90 days while 31 (20%) patients took more than 90 days to start their adjuvant chemotherapy. Patients who experienced surgical complications were 1.5 times more likely to initiate adjuvant chemotherapy earlier than those without such complications, with an adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) of 1.512 (95% CI: 1.287-3.140). Patients with a BMI classified as underweight were1.5 times high likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy earlier (AHR 1.569, 95% CI: (1.336-3.887)). Post-operative breast cancer patients with co-morbidity had a 25% lower likelihood of receiving adjuvant chemotherapy earlier than those without comorbidity (AHR=0.751,95%CI: 0.474-0.817), and illiteracy (AHR=0.829, 95% CI: (0.458-0.950)) was also a significant predictor of time to adjuvant chemotherapy.

Conclusion The duration of initiation of the adjuvant chemotherapy was longer than the recommended initiation time. Body Mass Index, presence of surgical complications, presence of comorbidity, and educational status were predictors of delayed time to adjuvant chemotherapy

Citation Format: Adugna Getahun Deboch. Time to adjuvant chemotherapy and its predictors among postoperative breast cancer patients at Cancer Treatment Center of Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Hawassa, Ethiopia in 2022: A retrospective follow-up study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 2 (Late-Breaking, Clinical Trial, and Invited Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(7_Suppl):Abstract nr LB418.