COMPARATIVE DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ORAL AND ESOPHAGEAL CANCERS IN EUROPE

The two main determinants of oral and oesophageal cancer in Europe are alcohol and tobacco, and the two cancer sites show several similariti es in their descriptive epidemiology, This study compares mortality fr om cancers of the oral cavity and oesophagus in European countries to evaluate similarities and differences, From official death certificati on numbers and population estimates, we obtained age-standardized rate s for all ages and truncated (35-64 years), In most countries, rates f or men tended to increase between 1955-59 and 1990-92 for both sites, although the increases were more marked for oral cancer, In the UK and Ireland, however, oral cancer decreased and oesophageal cancer increa sed, while in Finland and Iceland mortality for both sites decreased, The most striking increases were in Hungary, where the truncated rate in most recent calendar periods reached the highest levels in Europe, In France, rates for both cancers were extremely high: oral cancer inc reased from 1955-59 to the early 1980s, but started to decline afterwa rds, Mortality rates were much lower for women than men, and the corre lation between the two sites was less marked, An age, period and cohor t model, applied to the rates for men in selected European countries, suggested strong cohort effects for both cancers, generally more marke d for oral cancer, with substantial increases in the cohorts born afte r 1920. The mortality rates of cancers of the oral cavity and oesophag us show several analogies, as expected from their relation to tobacco and alcohol; but some discrepancies suggest that other, less well-iden tified, factors may also influence their rates and trends in Europe.