Laryngeal (larynx) cancer - UK incidence statistics

Laryngeal cancer is much more common in males than in females. It is the 18th most common cancer in males in the UK, with  1,890 new cases diagnosed in 2008. This compares with 402 cases in females - giving a male:female ratio of almost 5:1 (Table 1.1).1-4

It has been estimated that the lifetime risk of developing laryngeal cancer is 1 in 175 for men and 1 in 856 for women in the UK. These were calculated on May 2011 using incidence and mortality data for 2006-2008 using the AMP method.5

Table 1.1: Laryngeal cancer (C32), Number of New Cases, Crude and European Age-Standardised (AS) Incidence Rates per 100,000 Population, UK, 2008

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*95% LCL and 95% UCL are the 95% lower and upper confidence limits around the AS Rate

Laryngeal cancer is rarely diagnosed in people younger than 40, but incidence rises steeply thereafter peaking in people aged over 70 years. Nearly three quarters of cases (73%) occur in people over the age of 60 (Figure 1.1).1-4

Figure 1.1: Laryngeal cancer (C32), Average Number of New Cases per Year and Age-Specific Incidence Rates, UK, 2006-2008

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Section last updated: 05/09/2011

The age-standardised incidence rates for laryngeal cancer in Great Britain are very different for males and females. For males, the incidence rate rose from just under 6 per 100,00 to a peak of  6.9 per 100,000 in 1988 and then was closer to 6.4 until the early 2000s. Since 2002 it has been around 5.3 per 100,000 population The rate for females has remained close to 1 per 100,000 population (Figure 1.2).1-4

Figure 1.2: Laryngeal cancer (C32), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, Great Britain, 1975-2008

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The UK laryngeal cancer incidence trend is shown in Figure 1.31-4.

Figure 1.3: Laryngeal cancer (C32), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, UK, 1993-2008

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Section last updated: 05/09/2011

Laryngeal cancer is more common in males than in females throughout Europe. There are wide variations in the ratio of male to female rates. In Lithuania and Portugal rates are around 25 times higher in males than females. In countries with the smallest differences between the incidence rates, which includes the UK, France and The Netherlands, male rates are only around six times higher than in females. The EU-27 average has a rate ratio of nine (Figure 1.4).6 These differences in the rate ratios of male to female rates are driven largely by much wider variation in male incidence rates, which range from 16.1 per 100,000 in Hungary to 2.6 per 100,000 in Sweden. For females, the highest rate is also sen in Hungary at 2.6 per 100,000 compared with 0 in Malta.

The variations in incidence rates both between countries and between men and women are likely to reflect the variations in the prevalence of smoking and to a slightly lesser extent alcohol consumption as the combined effect of these two risk factors is estimates to account for 89% of laryngeal cancer cases.7

Figure 1.4: Laryngeal cancer (C32), European Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, EU-27 Countries, 2008 Estimates

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Laryngeal cancer is more common in males than in females throughout the regions of the world. World age-standardised incidence rates are highest in men in Central and Eastern Europe and Southern Europe and lowest in Eastern Asia, West Africa and Middle Africa.

As within Europe there is also wide variations in the ratio of male to female rates between the world regions. The largest difference is found in Central and Eastern Europe where rates are around 17 times higher in males than in females. In North America, which has the lowest ratio of male to female rates, male rates are only around 4 times higher than the females rates (Figure 1.5).8 The differences in the ratios of male to female rates reflect the differences in male incidence rates across the regions of the world.

World age-standardised incidence rates are not comparable to the European age-standardised incidence rates presented elsewhere in this section.

Figure 1.5: Laryngeal cancer (C32), World Age-Standardised Incidence Rates, World Regions, 2008 Estimates

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Section last updated: 05/09/2011