Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancers and Possible Risk Factors Across Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A Systematic Review
Wedad Saeed Al-Qahtani, Nawaf Abdulrahman Almufareh, Hussam A. Aljohani, Rasil Khaled Alotaibi, Consul Iworikumo Juliana, Nada H. Aljarba, Abdulqader Saeed Alqahtani, Bandary Almarshedy, Abdelbaset Mohamed Elasbali, Hussain Gadelkarim Ahmed, Bassam Ahmed Almutlaq
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In recent years, there is an emerging increase in the prevalence of oral and oropharyngeal cancers (O-OPCs) across the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Consequently, this review aimed to explore the epidemiology and possible risk factors of O-OPCs in GCC countries. METHODS: Data published after 2008 related to O-OPCs in GCC countries were obtained through electronic searches in Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE and Google Scholar. Keywords related to the association between O-OPCs metrics (epidemiology and risk factors) and GCC countries were used for electronic searches. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of OPCs increased significantly over time (40-51%) in some countries (Saudi Arabia and Arab Emigrated) of the Gulf regions. The pooled risk factor was 3.4 (2.5 - 4.7). Among the risk factors, human papillomavirus and the use of smoke and smokeless tobacco revealed odds ratio (OR) 3.31 (3.13 - 4.5) and 0.60 (0.45 - 0.80) at 95% confidence interval (CI). CONCLUSION: A positive correlation between factors like age, diet, hygiene, genetics, viral and bacterial infection, consumption of alcohol and tobacco products with OPC-MFC is suggested.