Worldwide Trends in Incidence Rates for Oral Cavity and Oropharyngeal Cancers

TLDR: OPC incidence significantly increased during 1983 to 2002 predominantly in developed countries and at younger ages, underscore a potential role for HPV infection on increasing OPC incidence, particularly among men.

Abstract: Purpose Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been identified as the cause of the increasing oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) incidence in some countries. To investigate whether this represents a global phenomenon, we evaluated incidence trends for OPCs and oral cavity cancers (OCCs) in 23 countries across four continents. Methods We used data from the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents database Volumes VI to IX (years 1983 to 2002). Using age-period-cohort modeling, incidence trends for OPCs were compared with those of OCCs and lung cancers to delineate the potential role of HPV vis-a-vis smoking on incidence trends. Analyses were country specific and sex specific. Results OPC incidence significantly increased during 1983 to 2002 predominantly in economically developed countries. Among men, OPC incidence significantly increased in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Slovakia, despite nonsignificant or significantly decreasing incidence of OCCs. In contrast, among women, in all countries with increasing ...