Colil Muñoz, Carolina; Cueto Urbina, Alfredo; Fernández Moraga, Alejandra; Esguep Sarah, Alfredo

Summary

The oropharyngeal cancer is a worldwide health problem according to WHO. It is the eighth most common in the world male population. Annual incidence is estimated at around 275,000 for oral cancer 130,000 and for pharyngeal cancer. Two thirds of the cases occur in developing countries. In Chile 1% of all cancers are oropharyngeal cancer, with historical mortality rate of 1.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. The purpose of the study was to characterize oropharyngeal cancer mortality in the urbanization Valparaíso-Viña del Mar, for the decade 2001-2010. Deaths data were obtained from books File deaths of civil registry offices of each commune. Mortality rates were calculated using population data provided by the National Statistics Institute. The mortality rate for the conurbation Valparaíso-Viña del Mar reached 2.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. With a male: female ratio of 1.3 to 1. The average age of death was 70.59 years. As most frequent anatomical location oropharynx, salivary glands and tongue then. The most common histologic diagnosis was Squamous Cell Carcinoma and 24.8% of deaths presented metastasis. This study concludes that there is an increase in the rate of oropharyngeal cancer mortality in the conurbation Valparaíso-Viña del Mar about what was reported in the past for the country, this could be showing a trend change based on environmental and behavioral changes of the population.

KEYWORDS: cancer mortality, oropharyngeal cancer, oral cancer.

How to cite this article

COLIL, M. C.; CUETO, U. A.; FERNÁNDEZ, M. A. & ESGUEP, S. A. Oropharyngeal cancer: characterization of mortality in the urbanization Valparaíso-Viña del Mar 2001 – 2010. Int. J. Odontostomat., 7(1):117-123, 2013.