Head and neck cancers – Prevalence and risk factors in Andhra Pradesh state, India: A preliminary analysis

Aim: The aim of this article is to study the prevalence of Head and Neck Cancers (HNC), risk factors, stage at diagnosis, site, and histopathology status in Andhra Pradesh from a hospital-based data and compared with the data available in other areas in the state. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis is carried out from the hospital data collected from the records and clinical files from the years 2010 to 2018. Patient's geographical area, risk factors, staging, etc., are analysed. Staging is done based on T- tumour size, N – Lymph nodal status, M – metastases status (TNM) classification and group stage. The cancer site is classified based on International Classification of Disease (ICD) for oncology (ICD-02). Results: 2544 patients of HNC are found in this study. A significant male predominance is noticed. Majority of the patients belong to the 40–60 age group (P < 0.001). The risk factors or habits are smoking, alcohol, chewing or combination of these in both males and females (P < 0.001). In both the sexes all the risk factors are seen mainly in tongue, hypo pharynx, and buccal mucosa. And, buccal mucosa patients are associated mainly with chewing tobacco habit, with male predominance. Most of the early stage disease (Stages 1 and 2) are noticed in females, whereas late stages (Stages 3 and 4) are noticed in males. (p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: Smoking, alcohol, and chewing are the common risk factors found among the patients. There is male predominance in the present study. Tongue and hypo pharynx cancers are associated with smoking and alcohol whereas chewing is found in buccal mucosa cancers.