Background
According to the WHO, nearly one in six deaths is due to cancer worldwide and about seventy percent of deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. In the Kara region, the epidemiological profile of cancers is not well documented. We sought to describe the epidemiological profile and identify factors associated with cancers at the regional hospital Center (CHR) of Kara from 2017 to 2021.

Methods
This was a cross-sectional analytical study, covering patients hospitalized in medicine from 01 January 2017 to 30 June 2021. Data were collected from 20 July to 31 August 2021 by reviewing hospitalization records for cancers on the basis of clinical and paraclinical evidence and confirmed by histology. Bivariate analysis was made to evaluate factors associated with cancer occurence. Odds Ratio (OR), adjusted OR (AOR) with 95% confidence interval and p<0.05 were used as measures of association.

Results
Out of 1827 hospitalizations, 67 patients with cancer were recorded, representing a prevalence of 3.66%. Lethality was 10.45%. The median age was 55 years [40-70] and the male/female sex ratio was 1.68. Liver cancer represented 50.74%, urogenital cancer 22.38%, digestive tract cancer 11.94% and pancreatic cancer 5.97%. Patients were mainly from Kozah (69%) and about 81% were registered in the hospital from 2019 to 2020. Age (OR=3.51; IC1.23-9.97; p=0.01), gender (AOR=21,64; IC2,97-157,42, p=0,00017), and history of viral hepatitis B or C (AOR=32,68; IC3,56-299,37.54; p=0.00016) were associated with liver cancer with a higher risk in those under 50 years old and male. Age 50 and older was associated with urogenital cancers (OR=5.57; IC1.14-27.19; p=0.02).

Conclusion
At CHR Kara, digestive and urogenital cancers predominated and were associated with age, sex and history of viral hepatitis. It is important to extend the study with a multivariate analysis to the entire region and to promote awareness actions.