ABSTRACT
Introduction: Esophageal cancer is the 8th prevalent cancer [4% of all] around the world and the sixth leading cause of death from cancers .The Northeastern parts of Iran [Caspian littoral areas] are one of the most prevalent areas of esophageal cancers in the world
Objective: In this study, we examined relationship between esophageal cancer tumor histology and variables like age and sex, in pathologically confirmed cases in the Northeastern of Iran [Caspian littoral margins]
Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the health care services and pathologic centers in Golestan Province. All pathologically confirmed esophageal cases were enrolled in the study and demographic data were listed. Data were analysed with SPSS-10 software. Variables were compared with one-way ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests for continuous variables and chi-square for nominal/categorical variables. Level of significance was set at p-value less than 0.05
Results: Four hundred and ninety one pathologically confirmed esophageal cancer cases from 1996 through 2000 were included in this study. Squamous cell carcinoma was the dominant tumor histology in this study and it was more common in females. We found that tumor histology is highly related to gender and this association is independent of age factor. Our finding revealed that this association is only applicable to older age groups [older than 50]
Conclusion: Results from this study suggested that demographic factors might be different in esophageal cancer cases in different geographic areas. Our finding can be a reflection of distinctive etiology for esophageal cancer in the Caspian littoral areas