A new report suggests the rate of throat cancer has risen more than 400 percent among Caucasian males in the last 30 years, Reuters reported Wednesday.
Also known as adenocarcinoma of the esophagus, risk factors for throat cancer include gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, and obesity. Often, Barrett’s esophagus, a condition where precancerous lesions line the esophagus, precedes adenocarcinoma.
The rate of throat cancer is also up more than 300 percent for white women, said Dr. Linda Morris Brown of RTI International in Rockville, Md., but new diagnoses are steadily catching up to men.
The actual rates of increase were 463 percent for men and 335 percent for women.
“Primary prevention such as modifications in diet and physical activity and control of GERD symptoms may be able to slow this trend,” Brown said.
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