Epidemiological Study of Esophageal Cancer in a Selected Population in Mazandaran Province

Background and purpose: The northern regions of Iran have a high incidence of esophageal cancer. This study was conducted with the aim of epidemiological investigation of esophageal cancer patients in the population covered by Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, the records of 170 patients over 18 years of age who were referred to Tuba Oncology Clinic (affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences) between 2014 and 2016 were reviewed. All relevant information, including age, sex, occupation, marital status, level of education, clinical and pathological findings of patients were collected and analyzed in SPSS V22 using Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test. Results: The mean age of patients with esophageal cancer was 68.2±12 years. The disease was more frequent in patients aged 70-79 years old. There were 53.5% male patients and 94.1% of patients had dysphagia. The frequency of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was found to increase by aging. The most and least metastatic segments were middle and upper parts of the esophagus, respectively. Conclusion: Esophageal cancer is common in old age and age is probably the most important factor in developing the disease.