Objective: This study examines the epidemiology related to testicular cancer (TC) in the administrative regions of Saudi Arabia by looking at not only the percentage/ frequency of diagnosed cases, but also the crude incidence rate, age-specific incidence rate, and age-standardized incidence rate stratified by the age group, diagnosis year, and regions.
Methods: From 2004 to 2017, descriptive epidemiological research was carried out across all TC cases registered under the Saudi Cancer Registry (SCR). Descriptive statistics as well as the Kruskal-Wallis test, together with SPSS (version 20.0) were used to evaluate the data.
Results: The SCR received 1114 reports of TC diagnoses between January 2004 and December 2017. TC was diagnosed most frequently in Saudi men aged 15-44 years. In terms of Saudi men, Jouf, Tabuk, Hail, and the Northern region reported the highest age-specific incidence rate (ASIR) of TC at 1.1 per 100,000 men. Alternatively, Baha, Jazan, and Riyadh had the lowest overall ASIR of TC (0.1 and 0.3 per 100,000 men, respectively). The ASIR of TC exceeded its previous levels by twofold. The likelihood of TC was five times higher in Jouf, Tabuk, Hail, and Northern regions than in Baha and Jazan.
Conclusion: In Saudi Arabia, the ASIRs of TC doubled between 2004 and 2017. TC was most frequently diagnosed in younger Saudi men. Jouf, Tabuk, Hail, and Northern regions of Saudi Arabia had the highest incidence of TC among Saudi men, whereas Baha, Jazan, and Riyadh had the lowest incidence.
Keywords: Saudi Cancer Registry; cancer epidemiology; incidence rate; oncology; testicular cancer.
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