Objective:

To describe the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of adult cancer patients who received treatment at the San José University Hospital (HUSJ) in Popayán, Colombia.

Methods:

Observational study with routine cancer data, which included patients aged over 18 years, who received treatment between 2012 and 2017 in the emergency and hospitalization departments, with cancer diagnosis according to the ICD Manual 10 (International Statistical Classification of Diseases, tenth revision) in the HUSJ. It was applied a simple random sampling strategy, with proportional allocation by years, and they were analyzed descriptively and graphically.

Results:

245 patients were included, 51% of which corresponded to female gender; median age, 64 years. The most frequent cancer in both sexes was stomach cancer, followed by ovary cancer and cervix cancer in women; and cancer of the prostate, blood tissue, and bone marrow in men. The histological types of cancer registered in most of the patients were carcinomas and adenocarcinomas. The presence of metastases was documented in 36.7% of the patients. The mortality during the last hospitalization was 20%; and 12% of patients required referral to another higher level of care.

Conclusion:

The results of this study show similarities with the behavior of the disease in the country, with the exception of gynecological cancer. Additionally, it provides valuable information both regionally and at institution level, as well as it raises awareness of the need for the implementation and maintenance of hospital cancer records.

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