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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2020; 41(04): 510-518
DOI: 10.4103/ijmpo.ijmpo_99_20
Review Article

Addictions Causing Head-and-Neck Cancers

Contributor(s):
Arjun Singh
1   Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital and HBNI, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Florida Sharin
1   Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital and HBNI, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Hitesh Singhavi
1   Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital and HBNI, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Pranav Sathe
1   Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital and HBNI, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
A Gnanamoorthy
2   Tata Memorial Hospital and HBNI, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Pankaj Chaturvedi
1   Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital and HBNI, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
› Further Information
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Abstract

Background

Head-and-neck cancers pose a serious economic burden, with most countries investing significant resources to reduce the incidence, primarily focusing on understanding addictive etiologies. The traditional literature focused on tobacco and alcohol use, with few studies on contemporary factors such as e-cigarette, waterpipe smoking, and human papillomavirus. This article attempts to collate and present an update on the globally identified etiologic factors.

Aims

The aim of this study was to identify and review the addictive etiologic factors causing head-and-neck cancers.

Methods

An electronic search was performed on Medline, Embase, and Google Scholar to identify the etiologies causing head-and-neck cancers and narrowed down on those driven by addiction. Further, we identified their constituents, mechanism of action, and the risks attributable to various forms of products.

Results

Substances identified included smoked and chewed tobacco, alcohol, mate, marijuana, areca nut and betel quid, and viruses. An alarming majority of youth are now utilizing these substances. Furthermore, migrant movements have led to the spread of traditional practices across the regions, especially from the Asian subcontinent.

Conclusion

Ironically, despite modern advances and technology, we still see that a large proportion of population succumb to these cancers, emphasizing the need for more effective and targeted policies to combat this menace at the grassroots level.

Keywords

Addictions - alcohol - areca nut - betel quid - head-and-neck cancer - marijuana - tobacco - virus


Publication History

Received: 17 March 2020

Accepted: 29 June 2020

Article published online:
17 May 2021

© 2020. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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