Oral Cancer in the South and South-East Asia Region, 2022: Incidence and Mortality.

INTRODUCTION

We present an epidemiological description of cancer of the lip, oral cavity, and oropharynx focused on South and South-East Asia by cancer site, sex, and population.

METHODS

The number of new cases and deaths from lip, oral cavity, and oropharynx cancers was extracted from GLOBOCAN 2022 and Cancer Incidence in Five Continents. We present age-standardized incidence and mortality rates (ASR) per 100,000 and temporal trends between 1992 and 2017 for four populations in the Region.

RESULTS

In 2022, there were 177,258 incident cases and 98,735 deaths from oral cancer in this region. ASR for lip and oral cancer in South and South-East Asia was highest in India (14.67), Sri Lanka (14.04), Bangladesh (13.61) and Pakistan (12.07) in males. The highest age-standardized mortality rates for lip and oral cancer were observed in India (8.17), Bangladesh (8.07) and Pakistan (7.74) for males.

CONCLUSION

Incidence and mortality rates of oral cancer in South and South-East Asia are among the highest globally. 52% of total global deaths from oral cancer are reported from this region. Data suggest a persisting trend and an increase in the incidence of oral cavity cancer among Indian and Bangladeshi males.