Descriptive epidemiology of malignant neoplasms of nose, nasal cavities, middle ear and accessory sinuses.

International incidence and mortality data for ICD rubric 160 (nose and nasal cavities, middle ear and accessory sinuses) are reviewed, the relative frequency data for cancer for each of the constituent anatomical locations presented and the histological types of neoplasms encountered tabulated to determine if geographical differences exist which might be worth further investigation. Relatively high rates for this generally rare disease were found in Asian and African populations, the highest age-adjusted rates, between 2.6 and 2.5 per 100,000 per annum, occurring in Japanese males. Independent of the higher rates, the extremely low proportion of cancers of the nose and nasal cavities together with the very high proportion of cancer of the maxillary sinus in Japan are in contrast with a much higher relative frequency of nose and nasal cavity cancer in other countries. These findings seem to justify further studies of these tumours in this country, particularly as none of the known aetiological factors reviewed in this paper explain the high rates for this cancer in Japan.