Oral cancer characteristics in France: Descriptive epidemiology for early detection.
Despite the frequency and lethality of oral cancers in France, there are no detailed general population data regarding the characteristics of these patients to fuel the public health authorities' reflections about early detection policies. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine, in the general population, the characteristics of both patients and tumours at the time of the diagnosis. A high-resolution, population-based study using 13 French registries was conducted on 1089 tumours diagnosed in 2010. Men accounted for 75% of cases. The most frequent sites were tonsil (28.4%) and oral tongue (21.1%). The median age varied from 56.7 years for floor of mouth to 66.4 years for gum. The lesions were mainly diagnosed on pain and those diagnosed after routine clinical examination were scarce (2.6%). There were 65.5% stage III and IV at diagnosis. Oral tongue, floor of mouth and palate presented tumours less than 2cm only in 34 to 40% of cases. Advanced stage was associated with the presence of comorbidities, and tonsil or base of tongue topography. Stage was not associated with Département, deprivation index or gender. This study provided a picture of the characteristics of oral cancer patients and their tumours and showed that diagnoses are often made late, even for those tumours most easily accessible to direct visual and tactile examination. Nevertheless, it remains to define the target population of an early detection and to evaluate the benefit of such detection on the mortality rate.
General Cancer Registry of Lille and its area, GCS-C2RC, 59037 Lille, France. Electronic address: kligier@registrecancers59.fr.
K
K
Jéhannin-Ligier
University Hospital of Caen, U1086 Inserm UCBN "Cancers & preventions", 14000 Caen, France.
O
O
Dejardin
Registre du cancer de la Somme, 80000 Amiens, France.
B
B
Lapôtre-Ledoux
Registre des cancers de la Manche, 50100 Cherbourg, France.
S
S
Bara
Registre de cancer de Gironde, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
G
G
Coureau
Registre des cancers du Tarn, 81000 Albi, France.
P
P
Grosclaude
Registre des cancers du Haut-Rhin, 68100 Mulhouse, France.
E
E
Marrer
Registre des tumeurs de Loire-Atlantique et Vendée, 44000 Nantes, France.
F
F
Molinié
Registre des tumeurs de l'Hérault, 34000 Montpellier, France.
B
B
Trétarre
Registre des cancers du Bas-Rhin, 67000 Strasbourg, France.
M
M
Velten
Registre des tumeurs du Doubs et du Territoire de Belfort, 25000 Besançon, France.
A-S
AS
Woronoff
General Cancer Registry of Isère, University Hospital of Grenoble, 38000 Grenoble, France.
M
M
Colonna
General Tumour Registry of Calvados, Centre F.-Baclesse, 14000 Caen, France.
A V
AV
Guizard
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012042:Registries
Early detection; Oral cavity cancer; Population-based study; Stage at diagnosis