Determinants of factors affecting adherence to radiotherapy treatment among patients with cervical cancer at the MP Shah hospital.

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is the second commonest cancer among women of reproductive age in Kenya. It has one of the highest incidences and mortality cases in Kenya.This is despite a lot of prominence being placed on preventive and screening services while there is a paucity of attention on the adherence of patients to the recommended radiotherapy treatment. Adherence to the recommended radiotherapy treatment sessions is vital for curative and prevention metastatic spread of the disease and reduction in mortality cases. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine factors affecting adherence to radiotherapy treatment among patients with cervical cancer at the MP Shah hospital. Methodology: This was a quantitative retrospective descriptive study. The study population consisted of all cervical cancer patients who underwent radiotherapy between January 2012 and January 2014 at the cancer center, MP Shah Hospital. Simple random sampling was used to select a sample size of 246 patients. A total of 20 patients were lost to follow up. The study employed the use of an electronic database. A structured close ended questionnaire was used to collect data and analysis was done using statistical package for the social science (SPSS) version 20. Results: A high adherence rate was noted in patients within the 40-49 years age stratum. Marital status was a significant factor in explaining adherence to treatment with (χ2=4.945; df= 3 p=0.001) at bivariate level. The tertiary level of education showed significant association with adherence to treatment with (χ2=p.945; df= 3, p-0.002). Patients with stage two cervical cancer who were treated for less than 28 days and had less side effects were more adherent. Conclusion and recommendations: This study showed that the most significant factors affecting adherence were having a tertiary level of education, being married; being within 40-49 years of age; early stage cervical cancer; being treated for not more than 28 days and having less side effects showed better adherence treatment. The recommendations of this study are: close monitoring of unmarried and divorced patients; with low levels of education and patients below the age of 39 years and above 60 years. Dose and treatment protocol optimization should be adopted and adapted. Further research studies should done to ascertain the reasons why certain age groups show high adherence to radiotherapy than others.