Background & Objectives : Gastric cancer has a low survival and remains a serious threat to the health of human life, especially in developing countries such as Iran. The present study was performed to estimate the main effective factors in the survival rate of patients with gastric cancer in the Province of Kohgilouyeh & Boyerahmad.
Methods: All cases of gastric cancer in Kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad recorded in Provinces of Fars and Kohgiloyeh and Boyerahmad cancer registry were enrolled in this study. The impact of the independent variables on the survival was estimated by single and multivariate Cox regression controlled for the probable confounding variables. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan Meier curves, the log-rank test, and Wilcoxon test to compare the results. Analysis of the data was performed by SPSS 19, and P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Results: Among the 348 studied patients, 75.6% were male and the rest (24.4%) were female. In general, in this study, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year survival rate of the patients was 37, 27, 20, 19, and 18%, respectively. By combining these end variables in regression models, three risk groups were identified. In the high risk group, the cumulative survival rate was 0% at the end of the fifth year.
Conclusion: Execution of the down-staging program through public education, considering the low survival rate in this province seems essential especially for high-risk groups such as farmers, ranchers and regional nomadic populations.
