Descriptive epidemiology and multivariate survival analysis of oral and pharyngeal malignancies in alexandria

Abstract EN

Background : Carcinoma of the oral cavity and pharynx, although not so common, it represents a public health concern of international significance.

They are more common in males than in women with trend of higher incidence with advancement of age.

Material and Methods During 1972-2001, a total of 76028 cancer cases were accessioned into the Alexandria Cancer Registry [ACR] and stored on the computer using the [ICD-10] code.

Survival analysis was conducted for registered cases (1991-2000).

Results : Oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers account for 5% of 37851 male cancers and 2.7% of 1029 female cancers.

Comprehensive analysis of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers included subjects registered during 1991-2000 showed that the majority of tumors (47.7%) were diagnosed at stage IV, (36.8%) were moderately differentiated and mostly represented at older age after 30 years.

The tongue remains the most frequent site of oral cavity followed by lip.

The overall survival rate was 53.4%.

From the results of multivariate survival analysis, male gender, late stages and high grades of neoplasm were the most significant predictors of survival of cases with oral cavity and pharyngeal cancers..

Conclusions : The data emphasize that survival of or pharyngeal neoplasms is linked to stage at diagnosis thereby early detection can produce better prognosis.

Furthermore, high risk groups including heavy smokers and old age groups should be subjected to simple and comprehensive oral examination and educational efforts of primary health care providers which could allow early detection.