Incidence of Anemia among Female with Solid Tumors at Diagnosis in Jazan City Before Receiving Treatment

Mustafa Halawi

Background and Objective: The incidence of cancer in Saudi Arabia has increased in recent years. Anaemia may result from various etiologies in patients with cancer, mainly nutritional deficiencies, direct disease effects, hemolysis, blood loss, inflammation of chronic disease, effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of anaemia among female cancer patients with leukocytosis in Jazan city using the retrospective record-based study of 235 female cancer patients in Jazan at the time of diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Female patients who met the following inclusion criteria were included in this study: First, diagnosis of any type of cancer at grade 1 only, second, a measurement of RBC and Hb, RBC count less than 4.5 M μL^–1 and haemoglobin Hb level less than 11.5 g μL^–1. Results: Among this study, breast cancer was the common type, followed by female genital tract, colorectal and the least common type is head and neck. Significantly, the highest number of anaemia cases detected were in the colorectal cancer group (32%), followed by the breast group with 29%), the female genital tract (27%) and the head and neck cancer group with about 12%). Conclusion: Anemia is common among female solid cancer patients at diagnosis in Jazan city, the risk of developing anaemia is high after chemotherapy therefore promoting awareness about the risk of anaemia is important in Jazan city especially among female individuals.

View Fulltext Back