Survival Rate of Patients with Stomach Cancer and its Effective Factors in Yazd Province

Introduction: Cancers are the second cause of death in the world after cardiovascular diseases. Cancer of the stomach is one of the most important forms of cancer worldwide. It is the fourth most common form of cancer and the second most common cause of death in the world. There is a wide variation in the survival of gastric cancer among and even within countries. In this study we seek to investigate survival rate and the factors influencing the survival of gastric cancer in Yazd province. Methods: This is an observational (the analytical type) study which has been conducted using the methods of longitudinal and survival study. The study population includes all patients diagnosed with gastric cancer in Yazd province between the years 2006 to 2010. The samples were selected by the census method and all the patients diagnosed with gastric cancer between the years 1384 to 1388 (estimated to be about 136 cases) have been studied. After collecting the data and coding them, they were inserted to the software SPSS 16, STATA 12. To investigate the survival and the factors influencing the survival time of patients which are the main objective of this study, Kaplan-Meier method was used and Cox proportional hazards model was fitted to the data. To compare survival function in different subgroups, the log rank test or generalized Wilcoxon test was used. Results From a total of 136 patients with gastric cancer, 91 cases were male (66.9%) and 45 females (33.1%), respectively. The mean age of patients was 62.33 ±1.45 years at the time of diagnosis. The Average (5% Trimmed Mean) and the median survival of patients with gastric cancer in both sexes were 26.16 and 19 months, respectively. The probability of survival at 1, 3 and 5 years after diagnosis of stomach cancer in both sexes using the Kaplan-Meier was 61.3, 31.2, %24.5, respectively. In multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards model, the variable of Job (P-value=0.03) was identified as the factor influencing the survival of patients with gastric cancer. Conclusion: Although the survival rate of patients with gastric cancer in Yazd province is desirable level, intervention measures can increase this amount.