Determinants of Noncompliance to Cancer Treatment among Cancer Patients in David Umahi Federal University Teaching Hospital; Focus on Sociodemographic, Psychological and Treatment Modalities

Abstract

Background: Cancer treatment outcome in Nigeria and in Sub Sahara Africa has been identified to be sub-optimum and implicated factors include delayed presentation, late-stage diagnosis, and inadequate treatment as challenges linked to poverty, prolonged treatment durations, social issues and non-adherence to treatment protocols. Many reports have focused on patient-related and health system challenges from symptom development through diagnosis. Despite the critical need for radiotherapy, many patients who start treatment do not complete the full course. It has been documented that only 46.5% of cervical cancer patients at an urban tertiary health center in the United States completed treatment within the recommended time frame of 56 days. Therefore, various factors could be responsible for the non completion of treatment leading to devastating effect of cancers in patients in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, underlying psychological factors, an area clinicians rarely take seriously, have become a major barriers to the timely completion of radiation therapy for cancer patient. Despite these findings, there is a notable lack of local studies in the Nigerian context that specifically examine the correlation between psychosocial issues and the extended duration of radiation therapy in cancer patients in relation to treatment compliance.