The category of head and neck cancer incorporates cancers at 17 separate sites in the mouth, pharynx, larynx, middle ear and nasal sinuses (see Table 2.1). Head and neck cancer was the ninth most common cancer in Ireland, accounting for 1.6% of all malignant neoplasms, excluding non-melanoma skin cancer, in women and 4.0% in men (Table 12.1). The average number of new cases diagnosed each year was 170 in women and 438 in men. During 1995-2007, the number of new cases diagnosed increased by approximately 1% per annum.
The risk of developing head and neck cancer up to the age of 74 was 1 in 209 for women and 1 in 67 for men and was slightly higher in NI than in RoI for women. At the end of 2008, 568 women and 1,293 men aged under 65, and 600 women and 1,462 men aged 65 and over, were alive up to 15 years after their head and neck cancer diagnosis.
Table 12.1 Summary information for head and neck cancer in Ireland, 1995-2007
| Ireland | RoI | NI |
| females | males | females | males | females | males |
% of all new cancer cases | 1.2% | 2.9% | 1.1% | 2.7% | 1.4% | 3.2% |
% of all new cancer cases excluding non-melanoma skin cancer | 1.6% | 4.0% | 1.5% | 3.9% | 1.9% | 4.3% |
average number of new cases per year | 170 | 438 | 105 | 294 | 65 | 144 |
cumulative risk to age 74 | 0.5% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 1.5% | 0.6% | 1.5% |
15-year prevalence (1994-2008) | 1168 | 2755 | 724 | 1765 | 444 | 990 |
The age distribution for head and neck cancer showed that men tended to be diagnosed at an earlier age than women—68% of men were aged under 70 years, compared to 58% of women (Figure 12.1). Almost twice the percentage of women presented at 80 years and over compared to men (18% .v. 10%). The pattern of age at diagnosis was similar in RoI and in NI.
Figure 12.1 Age distribution of head and neck cancer cases in Ireland, 1995-2007, by sex