Clinical-epidemiological profile of infantile-juvenile head and neck cancer: a descriptive hospital-based study

To describe the clinical-epidemiological profile of infantile-juvenile individuals diagnosed with head and neck cancer in Northeast Brazil from 1985 to 2017.

Descriptive study based on data collected from the Brazilian Hospital Cancer Registry System. This study included all individuals diagnosed with head and neck cancer, aged between zero and 19 years, with records in the Federative Units of Northeast Brazil, from 1985 to 2017. The collected variables included sociodemographic characteristics, risk factors, and tumor's clinical characteristics. Frequency tables with respective percentages were used for qualitative variables while descriptive measures such as mean and standard deviation were adopted for quantitative variables. Data were descriptively analyzed using the software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).

There were 500 cases of pediatric head and neck cancer, with more cases registered in Bahia (31.8%). The mean age of the individuals was 13.7±4.3 years. The majority were male (58.0%), non-white (80.4%), with incomplete elementary education (57.8%), and without a partner (94.2%). Most of them were non-smokers (70.3%), non-alcohol consumers (68.6%), and did not have a family history of cancer (66.8%). The most frequent histological type was squamous cell carcinoma (32.1%). Tumors were predominantly located in the nasopharynx (52.4%), staged as T4 (36.3%), N0 (40.7%), and M0 (90.9%).

Cases of head and neck cancer in the infantile-juvenile population were predominantly found in individuals from Bahia, male, aged between 12 and 16 years, of non-white ethnicity, incomplete elementary education degree, without a partner, non-smokers, non-drinkers, and without a family history of cancer. The most affected anatomical region was the nasopharynx, with the most frequent histological type being squamous cell carcinoma.