title: Epidemiology of Oral Cancer in Iran: a Systematic Review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Oral cancer stands among the 10 top causes of cancer death in the world. Considering the role of epidemiologic information on planning and effective interventions, the present study aimed to investigate the epidemiology of oral cancer in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  The required information for this systematic review study was obtained from PubMed, Google Scholar, CINAHL,SID, Medlib, Magiran and Iranmedex databases, using key words "cancer", "oral cancer", "squamous cell carcinoma", "oral cavity carcinoma" and their Persian equivalents in combination with keywords of epidemiology, prevalence, etiology, frequency, and Iran from 1990 to 2014. From 1,065 related studies found, finally 25 were included to the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of 8,248 patients in 25 studies was 54.0±15.1 years. The male/female ratio for oral cancer was 1.91. Tongue with average percentage of 29.9 was the most involved site. Regarding microscopic grade, 65.7% of cases were grade 1. SCCs, accounting for an average of 70.0%, was the most common among all types of oral cancer. In the majority of studies, smoking including cigarette, hookah, and tobacco consumption was found to be a risk factor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The epidemiological pattern of oral cancer in Iran is somewhat similar to that of other countries. Yet the information on hand in this field is limited and considering the role of epidemiological data we suggest conducting more accurate studies to catch data that is required for effective programs and interventions.
authors.affiliation: Hematology and Oncology Ward, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran E-mail : saberazami@yahoo.com, Dr.naghavii@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Davood
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maleki
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghojazadeh
authors.forename: Seyed-Sajjad
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Mahmoudi
authors.forename: Seed-Mostafa
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Mahmoudi
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pournaghi-Azar
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torab
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Piri
authors.forename: Saber
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azami-Aghdash
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naghavi-Behzad
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis