Improvement of Esophageal Cancer Survival in Northeast Iran: A Two-Decade Journey in a High-Risk, Low- Resource Region Publisher Pubmed



Nemati S^{1, 2} ; Islami F³ ; Kamangar F⁴ ; Poustchi H⁵ ; Roshandel G⁶ ; Shakeri R⁷ ; Domingues A² ; Khoshnia M⁶ ; Gharavi A⁶ ; Brennan P² ; Abnet CC⁸ ; Dawsey SM⁸ ; Boffetta P^{9, 10} ; Malekzadeh R^{6, 7} Show All Authors Show Affiliations
Source: PLoS ONE Published:2024

Abstract

Background and objective Two decades ago, an international initiative (GEMINI) was launched in a high-risk, lowresource region in Northeast Iran, aiming to investigate incidence, etiology, early detection, and treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). An earlier report from this area, highlighted poor ESCC survival rates, with a 5-year survival probability of 3.3% and the median survival time of 7 months. Our study assesses whether ESCC survival has improved since the implementation of the GEMINI initiative in this region. Material and methods 490 adult patients with histologically-confirmed ESCC were recruited from the Atrak clinic, Golestan, Iran, between 2007 and 2018. At recruitment, information on demographics and various exposures were collected. Active (telephone surveys) and passive (linkage to Golestan population-based cancer and death registries) follow-up methods were used to determine patients' vital status though March 2019. Survival estimates were obtained by Kaplan- Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results Over the study period 340 deaths were recorded. Five-year ESCC survival probability was 23% (95% Confidence Interval: 19% to 28%), and the median survival time was 19 months. Five-year survival probability was higher among individuals who were younger (35% in <60- year-olds vs. 12% for >70-year-olds, p<0.001), educated (34% vs. 21% for no formal education, p = 0.027), never used opium (28% vs. 15%, p = 0.0016), and received cancer treatment (37% vs. 4%, p<0.001). In the adjusted models, a higher hazard of death was associated with older age [HR for each 10-year increase = 1.36 (95% CI = 1.22 to 1.51)], Turkman ethnicity [HR = 1.35 (95%CI: 1.07 to 1.70)], opium use [HR = 1.53 (95%CI: 1.20 to 1.94)],and receiving no cancer treatment [HR = 5.81 (95%CI: 3.97 to 8.52)]. Conclusion Over the last two decades, ESCC survival in this population has significantly improved, highlighting the potential of enhancing healthcare infrastructure and ensuring access to affordable medical care in resource-limited, high-risk regions. Older age at diagnosis, Turkman ethnicity, opium use, and untreated cases (indicative of advanced disease at diagnosis) were identified as the main ESCC prognostic factors in this population. © 2024 Nemati et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.