Oral Cancer Mortality
Oral Cancer Mortality
With the increased incidence of oral cancer over the past decades, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of deaths per year.
The average number of deaths in Scotland per year from oral cancer is 121 and 63 for males and females, respectively (1990-99). This represents an overall death to registration ratio of 0.4, which is higher than that seen for many other cancers.
The highest proportion of oral cancer deaths is associated with the tongue, the best outcome occurring with lip lesions.
Oral Cancer Registrations and Deaths by Site as Percentage of Totals in Scotland
(1990-99)
Site |
% of Total Registrations |
% of Total Deaths |
| Tongue | 25.6 |
30.0 |
| Floor of Mouth | 16.9 |
11.8 |
| Lip | 13.9 |
2.0 |
| Unspecified Mouth | 11.2 |
14.4 |
| Tonsil | 9.3 |
5.6 |
| Palate | 7.4 |
9.7 |
| Ill-defined Sites | 6.3 |
15.8 |
| Oropharnynx | 4.7 |
6.6 |
| Gum | 4.6 |
4.1 |
During the past 30 years, there has been little improvement in survival rates. This is due to a number of factors, but important among these is the continued late presentation and detection of lesions. While the prognosis depends on the site and the stage of the lesion, the relative five-year survival rates are 44% (males) and 49% (females). Worryingly, there is some evidence that survival has actually declined recently in persons under 65 years of age. This may be related to an increase in incidence among persons in low socio-economic groups, who tend to have a generally poorer prognosis.