Even though the rates of oral cancer are comparatively
low among women, there is a steady increase
in some countries in Europe (notably Hungary,
Belgium, Denmark and Slovakia). Hungary also
showed a 98% increase in mortality rates for women
(Available at http://www-dep.iarc.fr/WHOdb/WHOdb.
htm). These disturbing trends are thought to relate to
high levels of drinking and smoking in these societies,
together with poor diet in lower socio-economic
groups. Trends of age-standardized (world population)
mortality rates from oral or pharyngeal cancer
within selected countries during the period from 1980
to the present are shown in Fig. 5A,B.