Morbidity and mortality of oral cancer in Taiwan: Trends from 2000 to 2021

Feng-Chou Cheng; Ling-Hsia Wang; Hung-Pin Lin; Chun-Pin Chiang

doi:10.1016/j.jds.2023.04.019

Morbidity and mortality of oral cancer in Taiwan: Trends from 2000 to 2021

J Dent Sci. 2023 Jul;18(3):1338-1346. doi: 10.1016/j.jds.2023.04.019. Epub 2023 May 2.

Authors

Feng-Chou Cheng^{1

2

3}, Ling-Hsia Wang⁴, Hung-Pin Lin^{5

6

7

8}, Chun-Pin Chiang^{9

10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Chia-Te Dental Clinic, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
² School of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Science Education Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁴ Center for the Literature and Art, Hsin Sheng Junior College of Medical Care and Management, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Stomatology, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Cosmetic Application and Management, MacKay Junior College of Medicine, Nursing and Management, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Medicine, MacKay Medical College, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁸ Department of Nursing, School of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁹ Department of Dentistry, Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Hualien, Taiwan.
¹⁰ Graduate Institute of Clinical Dentistry, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹¹ Graduate Institute of Oral Biology, School of Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹² Department of Dentistry, National Taiwan University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.

Abstract

Background/purpose: Oral cancer is a major cause of cancer morbidity and mortality worldwide, especially in Taiwan. This study investigated the morbidity and mortality of oral cancer in Taiwan from 2000 to 2021.

Materials and methods: The population data and the records of cancer registry were obtained from the websites of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, respectively. The numbers of oral cancer cases and deaths were analyzed from 2000 to 2021.

Results: The numbers of oral cancer cases and deaths increased from 3378 to 1494 in 2000-8277 in 2020 and 3395 in 2021, respectively. The total increase of oral cancer cases was 4899 with a total increase rate of 145.03%, while the total increase of oral cancer deaths was 1901 with a total increase rate of 127.24%. The changes in the numbers of all cancer cases and deaths, as well as the morbidity and mortality of oral cancer or all cancers also showed similar trends. Furthermore, the death-to-case ratio of oral cancers decreased from 44.23% in 2000 to 40.84% in 2020. The total decrease was 3.39% with a total decrease rate of 7.66%.

Conclusion: In Taiwan, people's awareness of oral mucosal health is still inadequate. Obviously, there is still much room for improvement in the oral mucosal health education for our people. With the expertise and responsibility for taking good care of oral health of our people, the dental personnel should take active roles in the prevention and screening for oral cancers.

Keywords: Morbidity; Mortality; Oral cancer; Oral cancer screening; Oral mucosal examination.