Although the overall incidence of head and neck cancers in the United States has remained stable, young adults are being diagnosed with higher rates of oral and tongue cancer, said researchers at the American Head and Neck Society‘s May meeting.
Researchers from The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program Public-Use CD-ROM, 1973–1997, to update and confirm changes in the incidence of tongue and head and neck cancers in young adults.
They found that the overall incidence of head and neck cancer was stable. They also noted a slight decrease in number of cases and observed incidence rates for patients 40 to 64 years of age and patients 65 years and older between the 1973–1984 and 1985–1997 study periods.
The number of Americans younger than 40 years of age who had head and neck cancer, however, increased. Researchers attributed the increase to the rise in tongue cancer, which, in young Americans, ranked second to salivary gland cancer among all head and neck cancers.
Researchers found that a significant increase in tongue cancer in young adults occurred during the 1973–1984 period. After 1985, the incidence rate stabilized but remained high.
An increase of five-year survival from tongue cancer occurred over the 25-year study period. It ranged from 11.7 to 6.6 percent for patients younger than 40 years of age and 40 to 46 years of age, respectively.
Researchers concluded that the increase in tongue cancer in people born after 1938 and its association with improved survival suggest the emergence of a distinct disease process that is independent of alcohol and tobacco use. They also concluded that the disease process is apparent in white, but not African-American, populations and is of uncertain cause. Factors that may contribute to oral cancer in young adults are unknown, but suspected causes include use of smokeless tobacco, various forms of drug abuse, viruses and host susceptibility factors.
