Lip cancer in Northern Finland: changing incidence and clinical characteristics

A population-based survey was conducted in 35 municipalities in Northern Fi nland to assess the incidence of lip cancer as well as the patient and tumo ur characteristics in cases diagnosed between 1983 and 1997. A total of 96 new patients emerged. The age-standardised incidence (per 100,000 years) of lip cancer in men decreased from 4.8 in 1983-1987 to 1.4 in 1993-1997. The incidences in women were 0.30 to 0.36, respectively. The median age of the patients increased from 66 to 73 years through the years. Overall, 90% of the patients had at least one of the known risk factors, namely rural domic ile, outdoor occupation or smoking. The median duration of symptoms also re mained the same, as did the median size and location of the tumour at diagn osis. In contrast, spread to regional lymph nodes became rare during the pe riod.