Treatment patterns of pancreatic cancer in Kazakhstan based on a national inpatient oncology registry (2016–2023)

Pancreatic cancer is among the leading causes of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Despite growing global data, data on treatment patterns and survival in Central Asia remain limited. This retrospective cohort study examined inpatient pancreatic cancer treatment in Kazakhstan using eight years of data from the Electronic Registry of Oncological Patients (EROP) . The study included pancreatic cancer patients diagnosed and hospitalized between 2016 and 2023. Clinical and demographic groups were obtained by frequencies and percentages. The chi-square test was employed to assess the differences across age groups. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan–Meier method. Statistical analyses were conducted in STATA v.16 MP2 (STATA Corp., College Station, TX, USA). Overall, 4628 patients with pancreatic cancer received inpatient oncological treatment during the study period. Most patients were aged 60 years and older (63%), male (53%), of Kazakh ethnicity (54%), and residing in urban areas (63%). The total hospitalization rate increased from 7.9 in 2016 to 10.3 in 2023, and the incident hospitalization rate decreased from 3.1 in 2016 to 2.8 in 2023. Both hospitalization rates experienced mild decreases in 2022. The pancreatic resection rate was 7% among the hospitalized pancreatic cancer patients. They were mostly performed in Karaganda, Almaty city, and Astana city. The most common chemotherapy regimens were monotherapy with gemcitabine and gemcitabine combined with oxaliplatin or carboplatin. Resected patients had a median survival of 1.68 years versus 0.33 years among non-resected patients (log-rank test p < 0.001). Younger age, female sex, urban residence, and earlier stages at hospitalization were associated with better survival (log-rank test p < 0.001). Pancreatic cancer in Kazakhstan is predominantly diagnosed at late stages and is rarely treated with radical surgery. Chemotherapy is rarely administered to elderly patients. These findings, within the inpatient cohort, point to the need for improved early detection strategies and expanded access to specialized surgical and oncological care for pancreatic cancer patients in Kazakhstan.