UCC study shows oral cancer rates on the rise in women

Oral cancer rates in Ireland increased significantly between 1999 and 2009, driven by a sharp rise of the disease in women, a medical study has found.

The disease in females rose over a 16-year period beginning in 1994 at an annual rate of 3.2%. In contrast, an annual decrease in oral cancer rates of 4.8% was recorded in males between 1994 and 2001 before the rate of decrease stabilised over the following eight years.

A group of researchers from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at UCC examined the cases of 2,147 individuals who were diagnosed with oral cancer between 1994 and 2009.