Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the occurrence of oral and pharyngeal cancer in Finland over the last half century.
Materials and methods: The study included all lip, oral and pharyngeal cancer cases diagnosed in Finland and reported to the nation-wide Finnish Cancer Registry between 1953 and 1999.
Results: The study comprised 17,383 new cancer cases: 11,666 in males and 5717 in females. Of these, 83% were squamous cell carcinomas. By the end of the study, 1999, the mean age at diagnosis had increased to 63 years for males and 67 for females. The age-adjusted incidence of oral and pharyngeal cancer decreased in males from 12.5 per 10(5) to 8.4 per 10(5) while it increased in females from 3.0 per 10(5) to 3.9 per 10(5). This was because of a decrease in lip cancer incidence in males, while the incidence of tongue, mouth and salivary gland cancers increased in both genders. The annual number of new oral cancer cases increased, however, in both genders.
Conclusion: The incidence of lip cancer decreased in males, probably because of a decrease in smoking and in outdoor work. The incidence of intra-oral cancers increased in both genders, possibly because of increased alcohol consumption.