Overview of Oral Cancer
Recent published estimates of worldwide frequency of the 16 major cancers indicate that in developing countries with a high prevalence of infectious and nutritional diseases, cancer remains a major cause of death.
Abstract
Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the Western world, after cardiovascular diseases (Johnson, 1991; 2001). Worldwide, an estimated cancer incidence of about 10 million was reported for the year 2009 (Jemal et al., 2010), and 1 out of every 3 persons is estimated to suffer from cancer by the age of 75 years (Johnson, 1991; 2001). It is also estimated that about 7.9 million people world-wide will die from cancer this year (Jemal et al., 2010), accounting for nearly 12% of deaths worldwide (Jemal et al., 2010). In the United States alone, an estimated 569,490 deaths from cancer are projected for the 2010 (Jemal et al., 2010). Recent published estimates of worldwide frequency of the 16 major cancers indicate that in developing countries with a high prevalence of infectious and nutritional diseases, cancer remains a major cause of death (Parkin, Laara and Muir, 1988). This may account partly for the current statistics whereby more than half the global incidence of cancer is from the so-called developing countries, since an estimated 70-80% of the global population resides in these areas (Parkin et al., 1998). The estimated annual incidence of cancer ranges from 48 to 225 per 100,000 in developing countries (Parkin et al., 1998).