Sinonasal Cancer Cases in a Nationwide Hospital Cancer Registry in Brazil, 2007-2021.

BACKGROUND

Sinonasal cancers (SNC) are rare cancers with a high proportion attributable to occupational carcinogens. This study aims to describe the sociodemographic, clinical, and occupational characteristics of subjects with SNC in Brazil.

METHODS

Observational study conducted with secondary data from a network of Hospital Cancer Registries. We selected epithelial/unspecified SNC records with a year of diagnosis from 2007 to 2021. We performed descriptive statistics of SNC cases and calculated crude and age-standardized rates (ASR, standard: world population) by gender and Region of residence.

RESULTS

We identified 2,384 cases, 1,553 (65.1%) in men and 831 (34.9%) in women. The mean age at diagnosis was 59 years for both. Most SNC (50.7% in men and 53.2% in women) originated from the maxillary sinus. Most (65.5% in men and 54.5% in women) were squamous cell carcinomas. Information on occupation was missing in the years 2019-2021. Most male SNC patients (44.8%) were employed in group 6 (Agricultural, forestry, and fishing workers), while women had been mainly (34.6%) working in groups 8 (Workers in the production of industrial goods and services, machine operators) and in group 6 (27.6%). Crude SNC incidence rates were 1.0 per million person-years in men and 0.5 in women, while ASR were 1.0 and 0.4, respectively. In both genders, the highest ASR was in Minas Gerais (men: 1.9; women: 0.7).

CONCLUSIONS

Establishing the profile of Brazilians with sinonasal cancer can stimulate epidemiologic research for monitoring this group of cancers with a high association with occupational exposures.