title: Frequency of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas and Related Variables in Southern Iran (Ahvaz City): 10-Year Retrospective Study
abstract: Objective: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a life threatening lesion but there has been only limited research
  about its frequency in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency of squamous cell carcinoma of the
  head and neck in the records of the pathology department of Imam Khomeini hospital in Ahvaz between 2005 and
  2015. Methods: The retrospective and cross-sectional study was conducted using 55,708 medical records of cancer
  throughout the body, accumulated in the pathology department of Imam Khomeini in Ahvaz in the designated period.
  Information about age, gender, site of involvement, histological characteristics, status of lymph node metastasis,
  smoking habit, family history, job and education level was extracted and data were analyzed with the Chi-square test
  with SPSS version 22. Result: Of the total of 55,708 records, 582 patients (1.04%) had head and neck squamous cell
  carcinomas. The male to female ratio was 2.85. The frequencies in the head, mouth and neck were 28.7%, 22% and
  49.3% respectively. Significant relationships between being male and location (neck) (p = 0.002), age (60 to 80 years
  old) and being a farmer (p = 0.001) was observed. The most important correlated risk factors were: smoking, sunlight
  exposure, rural residence, job and education level. Conclusion: Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas were found
  to account for 1.04% of all cancers in Ahvaz, one of the southern provinces of Iran.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences,Tehran,Iran. Email:s.rahmani2011@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Sedigheh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bakhtiari
authors.forename: Hamed
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mortazavi
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mehdipour
authors.forename: Nahal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jafarian
authors.forename: Nastaran
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ranjbari
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rahmani
keywords: Squamous cell carcinoma; head; neck; Iran; epidemiology; frequency