Oral cancer is on the rise in American men - jumping 61 percent from 2011 to 2015, according to a new analysis of insurance claims.
The most dramatic increases were in throat cancer and tongue cancer, and the data show that claims were nearly three times as common in men as in women during that same period with a split of 74 percent to 26 percent.
The startling numbers - published in a report on Tuesday by FAIR Health an independent nonprofit - are based on a database of more than 21 billion privately billed medical and dental claims. They illustrate both the cascading effect of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the United States and our changing sexual practices.
The American Cancer Society estimates that nearly 50,000 Americans will be infected this year, with 9,500 dying from the disease. In past generations, oral cancer was mostly linked to smoking, alcohol use or a combination of the two. But even as smoking rates have fallen, oral cancer rates have remained about the same, and researchers have documented in recent studies that this may be caused by HPV.
HPV infects cells of the skin and the membranes that lines areas such as the mouth, throat, tongue, tonsils, rectum and sexual organs. Transmission can occur when these areas come into contact with the virus. HPV is a leading cause of cervical, vaginal and penile cancers.
Surveys have shown that younger men are more likely to perform oral sex than their older counterparts and have a tendency to engage with more partners.
"These differences in sexual behavior across age cohorts explain the differences that we see in oral HPV prevalence and in HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer across the generations and why the rate of this cancer is increasing," Gypsyamber D'Souza, an associate professor in the Viral Oncology and Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said at the time. The work was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
In February, researchers at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting reported that men are not only more likely to be infected with oral HPV than women but are less likely to clear the infection. It's not known why oral HPV is more aggressive in men.
HPV is an extremely common virus that has infected nearly 80 million, or one in four, people in the United States. Fortunately, the risk of contracting HPV can be greatly reduced by a vaccine. HPV has become a public health priority in recent years with dozens of countries recommending universal vaccination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that children get it at the age of 11 or 12, although they may get vaccinated as early as 9 years old. The CDC said earlier this month that young people who get it before the age of 15 need two doses rather than the typical three.
A CDC study has found that although fewer teenagers and young adults are having sex than in previous years, more are engaging in oral sex than vaginal intercourse under the assumption that it's safer.
"However, young people, particularly those who have oral sex before their first vaginal intercourse, may still be placing themselves at risk of STIs or HIV before they are ever at risk of pregnancy," the researchers wrote in the 2012 report.
The Washington Post
Wed Oct 26 2016
Surveys have shown that younger men are more likely to perform oral sex than their older counterparts and have a tendency to engage with more partners.
Pelajar perlu jelaskan status kesihatan sebelum sertai aktiviti sekolah - JPNS
Pengarah JPNS Datuk Dr Roslan Hussin berkata ibu bapa dan penjaga juga digesa memaklumkan status kesihatan anak mereka bagi memastikan segala maklumat berkaitan diambil maklum pihak sekolah sekali gus mengelakkan kejadian tidak diingini.
Guna nama Kementerian Komunikasi untuk memperdaya
Orang ramai diminta berwaspada dengan taktik terbaharu scammer yang menggunakan nama Kementerian Komunikasi bagi memperdaya mangsa mereka, kata Timbalan Menteri Komunikasi, Teo Nie Ching.
Menteri Luar Singapura antara yang terima surat dengan ugutan dan imej yang dimanipulasi
Menteri Luar Singapura Dr Vivian Balakrishnan merupakan antara beberapa Ahli Parlimen di negara ini yang menerima surat berbaur ugutan beserta imej yang dimanipulasi.
Dakwaan terhadap MB Selangor taktik terdesak pihak tertentu - Setiausaha Politik
Dakwaan terhadap Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari kononnya Menteri Besar Selangor itu meluluskan tanah di Dengkil kepada syarikat sendiri disifatkan sebagai episod ulang siar yang tidak jauh berbeza dengan t
Hafizh Syahrin raih kemenangan sulung di Zhuhai
Pelumba negara Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah meraih kejuaraan sulung bersama JDT Racing Team pada Kejuaraan Motosikal Asia (ARRC) 2024 di Litar Antarabangsa Zhuhai, di China hari ini.
AWANI Ringkas: Taktik baharu scammer
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
AWANI 7:45 [20/04/2024] - Noktahkan kemiskinan Sabah | Belum tahu jumlah peruntukan pembangkang | Freedom Flotilla to Gaza | Thailand terima 10.72 juta pelancong asing
#AWANI745 malam ini bersama Dzulfitri Yusof;
1. Noktahkan kemiskinan tegar Sabah, kata PM
2. PN masih tunggu butiran MOU, peruntukan pembangkang
3. Freedom Flotilla jalani latihan anti keganasan sebelum ke Gaza
4. 1.3 juta pelancong Malaysia ke Thailand
1. Noktahkan kemiskinan tegar Sabah, kata PM
2. PN masih tunggu butiran MOU, peruntukan pembangkang
3. Freedom Flotilla jalani latihan anti keganasan sebelum ke Gaza
4. 1.3 juta pelancong Malaysia ke Thailand
Dua polis BSI ditahan bantu siasatan kes pemerasan
Dua anggota polis yang berkhidmat di Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) ditahan semalam, bagi membantu siasatan kes pemerasan melibatkan seorang lelaki tempatan yang bekerja di Singapura.
Malaysia-Thailand tingkat kerjasama atasi jenayah
Malaysia dan Thailand setuju tingkat kerjasama untuk membanteras jenayah rentas sempadan.
#AWANI745
#AWANI745
MCMC lapor polis terhadap Papagomo, Che Gu Bard dan Salim Iskandar
MCMC menegaskan pihaknya melaksanakan tugas dan tanggungjawabnya berpandukan Akta Komunikasi dan Multimedia 1998, dan kesemua undang-undang subsidiari yang terkandung di dalamnya.
#AWANI745
#AWANI745
Penyelidik Universiti Chulalongkorn bangunkan kit ujian kanser serviks HPV berasaskan kertas
Kit ujian itu lebih mudah digunakan dengan keputusan diperoleh lebih cepat berbanding Pap Smear atau Ujian Pap yang biasa.
Poligami tingkat risiko kanser pangkal rahim
Kerap kali kanser pangkal rahim dikaitkan dengan tabiat seksual rambang, namun ia tidak semestinya benar.
Kanser pangkal rahim ketiga paling kerap berlaku dalam kalangan wanita muda
Wanita muda lebih berisiko mendapat kanser tersebut iaitu mereka yang berusia antara 29 ke 45 tahun.
70 polis wanita dikesan hidap virus HPV
Statistik terbabit dikenal pasti hasil saringan yang dijalankan ke atas 918 polis wanita menerusi Program Frontliner Uniting Against Cervical Cancer untuk warga polis sejak Jun lalu.
Kaedah ujian HPV bakal ganti 'pap smear' bagi kesan kanser serviks
Tinjauan NHMS 2019 menunjukkan, 60 peratus daripada wanita Malaysia tidak melakukan pemeriksaan pap smear bagi tujuan saringan kanser serviks, sejak tiga tahun lalu.
Tak perlu malu! Ujian kanser serviks lebih mudah dengan inovasi ROSE
Jika ujian pap smear sebelum ini perlu menggunakan spekulum, menerusi inovasi baharu itu, kaedah konvensional itu tidak diperlukan.
Program HPV di Malaysia adalah relevan - Kementerian Kesihatan
Program suntikan vaksin HPV bagi mencegah kanser serviks dalam kalangan pelajar perempuan berusia 13 tahun di Malaysia adalah relevan.