Temporal trends in incidence and mortality rates of laryngeal cancer at the global, regional and national levels, 1990–2017

OBJECTIVES: Laryngeal cancer is the most prevalent entity of head and neck cancer. Knowing the trends of incidence and mortality of laryngeal cancer is important for the reduction in related disease burden. DESIGN: Population-based observational study. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The incidence and mortality data of laryngeal cancer were retrieved from the Global Burden of Disease study 2017 online database. The estimated average percentage change was used to quantify the trends of laryngeal cancer incidence and mortality at the global, regional and national levels. RESULTS: Globally, the numbers of incident cases and deaths due to laryngeal cancer increased 58.7% and 33.9%, respectively, from 1990 to 2017. However, the overall age-standardised incidence rate (ASIR) and age-standardised mortality rate decreased by 0.99% (95% CI 0.83% to 1.14%) and 1.62% (95% CI 1.50% to 1.74%) per year, respectively. These decreases were ubiquitous worldwide. However, unfavourable trends in the ASIR of laryngeal cancer were also observed in a total of 51 developing countries. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence and mortality rates of laryngeal cancer have significantly decreased at the global level and in most countries over the past three decades. The regions that showed an increasing incidence trend deserve more attention.