title: The risk factors of head and neck cancer and their general patterns in Australia: a descriptive review and update.
abstract: The purpose of this article is to provide a descriptive review of risk factors of head and neck cancer (HNC), with particular interest in their general patterns in Australia. All these risk factors are deeply perplexing, with socioeconomic, cultural, and geographic variables. We reviewed articles from PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar by using keywords such as risk factors, alcohol, tobacco, human papilloma virus (HPV), environmental risk factors, and other risk factors. We selected relevant articles after they completely fit into the inclusion criteria for this review. Previous reports highlight that smoking tobacco, consuming alcohol, and HPV infection are the major risk factors for HNC. Geographical variations in incidence rates are indicative of differences in the prevalence of risk factors among countries. HNC could be prevented by reducing the prevalence of established risk factors.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological and Clinical Sciences, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Jagtar
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Ramya
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramamoorthi
authors.affiliation: Genesis Health Care Bunbury, Bunbury, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Siddhartha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baxi
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological and Clinical Sciences, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Rama
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jayaraj
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: Mahiban
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000150:complications*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015996:Survival Rate