Gj. Macfarlane et al., PATTERNS OF ORAL AND PHARYNGEAL CANCER INCIDENCE IN NEW-SOUTH-WALES, AUSTRALIA, Journal of oral pathology & medicine, 23(6), 1994, pp. 241-245
Incidence and mortality rates for oral and pharyngeal cancers have bee
n reported to be increasing in Europe and the United States, with part
icularly large increases in mortality in central and eastern Europe. S
uch increases have been noted to be birth cohort-based, primarily affe
cting young and middle-aged men. In this report oral and pharyngeal ca
ncer incidence data from New South Wales. Australia has been analysed
for the period 1972-90. Although an increase in the incidence of oral
and pharyngeal cancer occurred during the mid-1970s and early 1980s, i
t did not continue. This pattern is consistent with Australian trends
in per capita consumption of tobacco, alcohol, fruit and vegetables. I
ndividual regions within metropolitan Sydney showed substantial geogra
phical variation with age-specific rates of oral and pharyngeal cancer
s (combined) in middle-aged men being at least three times higher in t
he city of Sydney than in New South Wales as a whole. Given the preven
table nature of the disease, such high rates need not occur.