Risk Factors
- More common in men than women
- More common in blacks than whites
- Age (90% over age 45)
- Tobacco (smoking, chewing, dipping snuff and second-hand smoke)--primary
risk factor
- Alcohol
- Ethanol and tobacco together are much worse than either one individually
- Asbestos, nickel, and polyvinyl chloride exposure
- Mustard gas exposure
- Defoliating agents exposure
- Poor oral hygiene (ill-fitting bridgework, broken teeth, mucosa irritated
by sharp or jagged teeth)
Lip
- Sun exposure
- Chronic irritation
- Direct contact with tobacco
- Contact with stem of a pipe
Nasopharynx
- Chinese/Asian ancestry
- Epstein-Barr virus exposure
- Familial clusters
Salivary glands
- Prior radiation to the head and neck
Thyroid gland
- More common in women than men
- Most common between ages 25 and 65
- Prior radiation to head and neck in infancy or childhood
- Familial association for medullary carcinoma
