Epidemiology of Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo
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- Category: Vol. 80, March 2012
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Epidemiology of Oral and Pharyngeal Cancer at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo,NARGIS A. LABIB, HANAN A. ELRAGHI, TAREK H. SHOMAN and FOUAD H.A. OTHMAN
Abstract
Background: The epidemiology of oral and pharyngeal cancer has not been studied adequately in Egypt and other Arab countries. Many studies indicated the low survival of this cancer and delay in the diagnosis although it is easy to detect early without sophisticated equipments.
Objectives: To determine the epidemiological character-istics and the risk factors of oral and pharyngeal cancer among a sample of patients from Egypt.
Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was designed to determine the epidemiological characteristics of this cancer amongst the patients attending the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Cairo University during the period from 1st of July to 31st of December 2010. A total of 71 patients were selected randomly, information gathered based on patients’ documents review and face-to-face interview using a specially designed semi-structured questionnaire.
Results: The mean age for the studied sample was (56.85±14.21) years and females were older than males. The majority of the cases were older than 45 years (80%). Half of the cases were reside in Greater Cairo (49.3%). More than half (56.3%) of all cases were illiterates, with predominance of female. One third of the cases (36.6%) had cancer at the anterior 2/3 of the tongue followed by buccal mucosa and alveolar margin (15.5% and 11.3%). Squamous cell carcinoma type (SCC) is the predominant (90%) histological type among the cancer cases. Cases presented at early stages (I & II) were higher (67.7%) than those presented in advanced stages (III & IV) (32.4%). The most common risk factors among the studied sample were smoking (63.4%), spicy and hot foods (>3 times a day) (67.6%), and exposure to the sun (52.1%).
Conclusion:
The epidemiology of oral and pharyngeal cancer in Arab countries and specially Egypt needed to be studied more in a large scale. Although, oral and pharyngeal cancer can be prevented easily by avoiding the risk factors and can be detected early without sophisticated equipments, awareness among the public and health care provider must be increased.