Prevalence, presentation, risk factors and awareness of oral cancer: A systematic review of the Nigerian experience

Abstract

Background: Oral cancers are malignant neoplasia of the lip and/or oral cavity that represent a major part of head and neck carcinomas (HNCs) along with laryngeal and pharyngeal carcinomas. Although oral cancers can be considered a health burden, available evidence on the actual burden in Nigeria is sparse.

Aims: The aim of this review was to determine the prevalence, presentation, risk factors, and awareness of oral cancer in different geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

Methods: Systematic literature searches were conducted in PubMed (NLM), Cochrane, Ovid Medline, OpenGrey and Google scholar databases, to identify publications on the prevalence, presentation, risk factors, and awareness of oral cancer in different geo-political zones in Nigeria.

Results: Oral cancer was found to be the most common form of HNCs in several of the included studies. Although reports from included studies varied across geopolitical zones in Nigeria, generally, oral cancers were most found in males, between the 5^th and 6^th decade, and the tongue, palate, maxilla, and mandible were common sites. In addition, a suboptimal level of awareness of oral cancer was reported by the majority of reviewed studies.

Conclusion: This review showed variations in prevalence, presentation, and risk factors of oral cancer across different geopolitical zones in Nigeria and highlighted the low level of knowledge and awareness of oral cancer among the Nigerian population.