Epidemiological Review: Esophagus Squamous Cell Carcinoma in India

Abstract

Worldwide the incidence of esophagus squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), remains one of the most common causes of cancer death. ESCC is one of the leading types of cancer in the North and Northeast regions of India among both genders. Risk factors of ESCC include tobacco, alcohol, areca nut, hot beverages, low fruit diet, poor oral hygiene, unpiped water, and human papillomavirus infection. This review tries to elaborate on various modifiable risk factors for ESCC, which have been studied worldwide and need to be studied in India. PubMed was used as a search platform using keywords, such as esophagus cancer, esophagus squamous cell carcinoma, epidemiology, India, incidence, mortality, risk factors, treatment, survival, prevention and their corresponding Medical Subject Heading terms, were used in combination with Boolean operators OR and AND. Studies from India are mostly hospital-based case-control studies from the North region. Further research is required in India to understand the etiology, to design large-scale screening and prevention strategies.