title: Rising incidence of oral tongue cancer among white men and women in the United States, 1973-2012.
abstract: Despite significant reductions in tobacco use in the US, oral tongue cancer incidence has reportedly increased in recent years, particularly in young white women. We conducted age-period-cohort analyses to identify birth cohorts that have experienced increased oral tongue cancer incidence, and compared these with trends for oropharyngeal cancer, a cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) that has also recently increased.
  
  
  
  We utilized cancer incidence data (1973-2012) from 18 registries maintained by the NCI SEER Program. Incidence trends were evaluated using log-linear joinpoint regression and age-period-cohort modeling was utilized to simultaneously evaluate effects of age, calendar year, and birth year on incidence trends.
  
  
  
  Incidence of oral tongue cancer increased significantly among white women during 1973-2012 (0.6% annual increase, p<0.001) and white men during 2008-2012 (5.1% annual increase, p=0.004). The increase was most apparent among younger white individuals (<50years; annual increase of 0.7% for men [p=0.02] and 1.7% for women [p<0.001] during 1973-2012). Furthermore, the magnitude of the increase during 1973-2012 was similar between young white men and women (2.3 vs. 1.8 cases per million, respectively). Incidence trends for oropharyngeal cancer were similar to trends for oral tongue cancer and similar birth cohorts (born after the 1940s) experienced rising incidence of these cancers (p-value: white men=0.12, white women=0.42), although the magnitude of increase was greater for oropharyngeal cancer.
  
  
  
  The incidence of oral tongue and oropharyngeal cancer has significantly increased among young white men and women within the same birth cohorts in the US.
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Rockville, MD, USA. Electronic address: joseph.tota@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Tota
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Rockville, MD, USA.
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: UC San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coffey
authors.affiliation: UC San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Califano
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, Departments of Preventive Medicine and Pathology, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cozen
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Department of Otolaryngology, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Ferris
authors.affiliation: UCLA, Department of Head and Neck Surgery, UCLA Head and Neck Cancer Program, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Maie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: St John
authors.affiliation: UC San Diego, Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Ezra E W
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, Rockville, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Anil K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Chaturvedi
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D044465:White People
keywords: Age-period-cohort analysis; Incidence; Oral tongue cancer; Temporal trends