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Increasing incidence of head and neck cancers HNCs , driven by rising rates of oropharynx cancer OPC , has been recorded around the world. This study examined trends in HNC and subsites oral cavity, oropharynx, and larynx cancers in Scotland focusing on assessing whether the sociodemographic profile has changed over the past 20 years. Scottish Cancer Registry data β including European Age Standardised Rates of HNC and subsites were analysed in multivariate Poisson regression by age, sex, area-based socioeconomic status, and year of diagnosis with interaction tests.
There have been no significant changes in the sociodemographic profile of HNC in Scotland over the last 20 years, despite the changing trends in HNCs with dramatically increasing incidence rates in OPC and reducing larynx cancer. This information can be used to target or stratify HNC prevention and control. Squamous cell carcinomas of oral cavity, larynx and pharynx are commonly known as head and neck cancers HNC.
As the seventh most common cancer globally, it is a growing and increasing public health challenge with over , incident cases and , deaths in [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. This has been accompanied by reports of modest increases in oral cavity cancer rates and declines in larynx cancer rates [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Wide socioeconomic inequalities in HNC incidence are observed, with the highest rates consistently found among those most socioeconomically deprived groups [ 6 ].
HNC is more common among older people and men are typically at a two-four-fold increased risk of head and neck cancer compared with women [ 1 , 9 ]. In recent years, the increase in oropharyngeal cancer rates has become a global phenomenon, and largely attributed to Human Papilloma Virus HPV , particularly in the United States and Europe [ 4 , 6 , 7 , 10 ]. Within these trends, there are emerging reports of changes in the sociodemographic profile of people with head and neck cancer, especially oropharyngeal cancer.
