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Oral and oropharyngeal cancer is considered a public health problem in several countries due to its high incidence and mortality rate.

Objective:

This study aimed to analyze oral and oropharyngeal cancer mortality in Uruguay from 1997 to 2014 by age, sex and country region.

Methodology:

A time series ecological study using secondary data was performed. Data on mortality due to oral and oropharyngeal cancers were obtained from the Vital Statistics Department of Uruguay's Ministry of Public Health.

Results:

The cumulative mortality rate due to oral and oropharyngeal cancer over the study period was of 19.26/100,000 persons in women and 83.61/100.000 in men, with a mean annual rate of 1.75/100,000 in women and 7.60/100,000 in men. Mortality rate from both sites during the study period was 4.34 times higher in men than in women. Malignant neoplasms of other parts of the tongue and base of tongue showed the highest mortality rate. The means of the annual coefficients of deaths were higher for the age groups between 50 and 69 years. Higher mortality rates of oral and oropharyngeal cancer were observed in Artigas (4.63) and Cerro Largo (3.75).

Conclusions:

Our study described a high mortality rate for oral and oropharyngeal cancer in Uruguay from 1997 to 2014. According to the country's health department, men, tongue cancer, and oral cavity had higher mortality rates, with some variation. Prevention strategies with control of risk factors and early diagnosis are necessary to improve survival in the Uruguayan population.

Generalized observations of temporal trends in mortality could mask relevant specific patterns. The objective of this study is to analyze the trend of oral and oropharyngeal cancer mortality rates in Brazil,2000 to 2013, considering the differences by sex, anatomical site, age group and race. Data on oral and oropharyngeal cancer mortality were obtainedthe Mortality Information System. The trend of historical series mortality rates, by stratum, was estimated by generalized linear regression using the Prais-Winsten method. From 2000 to 2013, there were 61,190 deathsoral cancer and oropharynx (average of annual coefficients: 3.50 deaths/100 thousand inhabitants). The trend of mortality rates was stationary for males and increasing for females (1.31%/year). Growth pattern for men aged 20-29 years (2.92%/year) and for men of race/color brown (20.36%/year). Growth pattern was also identified for white women (2.70%/year) and brown women (8.24%/year). The surveillance of this condition should consider the sociodemographic differences of the population for an equitable planning of the strategies of care, because they reflected in different trends of mortality rates by oral and oropharynx cancer in Brazil.

The objective was to investigate if there is an association between the mortality rates due to oral and oropharyngeal cancer in Brazil and the expansion of access to public primary and specialized dental care services that resulted from the implementation of the National Oral Health Policy, between 2000 and 2013. The mortality data were obtained from the records of the Mortality Information System and the exposure variables were obtained from databases of the Brazilian Ministry of Health and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The main exposures investigated were “coverage of primary dental care” and “number of specialized dental care centers”. Additional covariates included “Gini index of household income”, “average number of years of study”, “proportion of unemployed people” and “proportion of smokers”. For the statistical analysis, a random coefficient model was used. There was a statistically significant association between the mortality rates by oral and oropharyngeal cancer with coverage by primary dental care and the number of specialized dental care centers with males. This study found that the expansion of the coverage of primary dental care and the number of specialized dental care centers are associated with the reduction of mortality rates due to oral and oropharyngeal cancer in Brazil. There is plausibility for the association found, which needs to be confirmed by implementation studies.