One in three cases of oral cancer globally are due to smokeless tobacco and areca nut use
A new study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partners evaluates the global burden of oral cancer linked to smokeless tobacco and areca nut use. In 2022, more than 120 000 cases of oral cancer were caused by these risk factors, accounting for one third of oral cancer cases globally. The analysis, published today in The Lancet Oncology1, highlights that nearly 9 in 10 (88%) of all oral cancer cases caused by smokeless tobacco and areca nut use occurred in South-Central Asia and more than 95% (96.4%) occurred in low- and middle-income countries.
As part of this study, an in-depth analysis looked at the cancer burden associated with specific products in the countries most affected by smokeless tobacco and areca nut use. The analysis indicated the importance of areca nut; a higher proportion of oral cancers were due to use of areca nut products, with or without tobacco, compared with other smokeless tobacco-only products.
Globally, an estimated 300 million people use smokeless tobacco and 600 million people use areca nut. The highest rates of use are found in South-Central Asia, South-East Asia, and Melanesia. Smokeless tobacco products are consumed without burning and can be chewed, sucked, inhaled, applied locally, or ingested. Areca nut is the seed of the areca palm and is consumed in various forms, with or without smokeless tobacco, including in betel quid, or on its own.
“Smokeless tobacco and areca nut products are available to consumers in many different forms across the world, but consuming smokeless tobacco and areca nut is linked to multiple diseases, including oral cancer,” says Dr Harriet Rumgay, a scientist in the Cancer Surveillance Branch at IARC and the first author of the article. “We found that more than 120 000 people across the world were diagnosed with oral cancer that could have been caused by using smokeless tobacco or areca nut. Our estimates highlight the burden these products pose on health care and the importance of prevention strategies to reduce consumption of smokeless tobacco and areca nut.”
