Cohort trends in mortality from oral, esophageal, and laryngeal cancers in the United States.

Temporal patterns in mortality from 1950 to 1984 in the United States for oral, esophageal, and laryngeal cancers show some similarities but differ markedly by sex and race. Cohort analyses reveal that among white women, rates for all three cancers declined among those born during the latter half of the 1800s, increased among those born between about 1895 and 1920, and decreased thereafter. Rates among nonwhite women generally follow the patterns among white women, with a lag of about five years. Among white men, except for declining oral cancer mortality among those born from the mid- to late 1800s, cohort-specific patterns are much less remarkable, whereas increases for oral, esophageal, and laryngeal cancers among nonwhite male cohorts born since 1900 have been steep and have not yet reversed direction as they have for whites. Gender and racial differences in tobacco and alcohol consumption as well as dietary factors are explored as explanations for these patterns.