Oral cavity and pharynx-throat cancer in the United States, 1973-2003

Objective. To study incidence rates (Is) of oral cavity and pharynx-throat cancer in adults age 20 + years from 1973 to 2003, and to estimate how many of these cancers occurred in the United States in 2003. Study design. We used data and software from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program to generate age-adjusted Is, reported as cases per 100,000 person-years. Results. For oral cancer, the Is for young men were stable, and Is at ages 40 + years declined by one third after the mid 1980s. Is declined by one third in women ages 40 to 74, but increased in the youngest and oldest groups. In 2003 there were 10,432 cases of oral cavity cancer among persons age 20 + years in the United States, and there were 12,157 cases of pharynx-throat cancer. Conclusion. The Is of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx-throat are stable or declining for men and women in most age groups. Of the nearly 30,000 malignant neoplasms occurring in the SEER "oral cavity-pharynx" category in 2003, almost three quarters (21,455) were detectable during a routine oral examination.