PREVALENCE AND PATTERN OF CANCER CASES MANAGED IN UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI TEACHING HOSPITAL: IMPLICATION ON PHYSIOTHERAPY

ABSTRACT Cancer remains a significant public health challenge globally. Cancer management is a multidisciplinary approach with physiotherapy playing a pivotal role, yet there is minimal information on how physiotherapy services are integrated and utilized in hospitals. This retrospective study aims to fill this critical gap by analyzing the prevalence and pattern of cancer cases managed in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). Patients case notes from the Central Records Office at UMTH, and register from the Physiotherapy Department were traced and scrutinized and cancer cases seen and managed between January 2020 and October 2024 were retrieved and reviewed. Descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentages were used to summarize the socio demographic variables, (age, gender, marital status, occupation) and clinical profiles (types of cancer, treatment modality employed, physiotherapy related impairment, referral to physiotherapy and years of cancer diagnosis). 68 patients with a mean age of 2.22(SD= 0.6) diagnosed with cancer within the period of five years. Female accounted for the majority (61.9%), most (63.2%) of the patients fell within the age group of 31-60, majority (41.2%) were house wives in terms of occupational distribution, Overwhelming majority (92.6%) are married. Breast cancer is the commonest type of cancer (29.4%), followed by prostate (25.0%). Medications accounted for 35.3% the highest in treatment modality, while pain accounting for the majority (70.6%) of physiotherapy related impairments, followed by weakness (17.6%). Only 26.5% cancer cases were referred to physiotherapy. Most (35.3%) of the diagnosis were made in the year 2023. Conclusively, breast and prostate cancer are the common forms of cancer in UMTH. Despite the significant role of physiotherapy in cancer management, physiotherapy is not well integrated, there is need for further exploration of access barriers or referral patterns from oncology to physiotherapy for better patients’ outcomes.