{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,26]],"date-time":"2026-10-26T19:13:45Z","timestamp":1793042025137,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,20]],"date-time":"2022-05-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653004800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)","award":["NRF-2021R1C1C1004073"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2021R1C1C1004073"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013aysd81","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)","award":["202011D15"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202011D15"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013aysd81","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Korea Medical Device Development Fund","award":["NRF-2021R1C1C1004073"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2021R1C1C1004073"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03g98ap29","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Korea Medical Device Development Fund","award":["202011D15"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202011D15"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03g98ap29","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Catholic University of Korea, Eunpyeong St. Mary\u2019s Hospital, Research Institute of Medical Science","award":["NRF-2021R1C1C1004073"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NRF-2021R1C1C1004073"]}]},{"name":"Catholic University of Korea, Eunpyeong St. Mary\u2019s Hospital, Research Institute of Medical Science","award":["202011D15"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202011D15"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cancers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Descriptive epidemiologists have repeatedly reported that males are more susceptible to head and neck cancers. However, most published data are those of cross-sectional studies, and no population-based cohort study has yet been published. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of head and neck cancers in healthy males with females. Methods: A retrospective cohort study using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database on 9,598,085 individuals who underwent regular health checkups from 1 January to 31 December 2009. We sought head and neck cancers developed during the 10-year follow-up. Results: A total of 10,732 (incidence rate (IR) per 1000 person-years 0.25) individuals were newly diagnosed with head and neck cancer among the 9,598,085 individuals during the 10-year follow-up. The IR was 0.19 in males (8500 affected) and 0.06 in females (2232 affected). Notably, the male\u2013female ratio increased with age below 70 years but decreased thereafter. The male\u2013female difference was most apparent for laryngeal cancer; the male IR was 11-fold higher in the 40 s and 20-fold higher in the 60 s, followed by hypopharyngeal cancer (6.8- and 24.2-fold). Males smoked more and drank more alcohol than females (p &lt; 0.0001 *, p &lt; 0.0001 *). When never-smokers\/-drinkers (only) were compared, males remained at a 2.9-fold higher risk of head and neck cancer than females. The hazard ratios for head and neck cancers in males tended to increase in the lower part of the upper aerodigestive tract: larynx (13.9) &gt; hypopharynx (10.9) &gt; oropharynx (4.4) &gt; nasopharynx (2.9) &gt; sinonasal region (1.8) &gt; oral (1.6). Only the salivary gland cancer incidence did not differ between the sexes; the gland is not in the upper aerodigestive tract. Conclusion: Males are much more susceptible to head and neck cancers than females regardless of whether they drink alcohol or smoke tobacco. Sex differences in the incidence of head and neck cancer are most evident in the 60 s in the lower part of the upper aerodigestive tract, such as the larynx and hypopharynx.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cancers14102521","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,20]],"date-time":"2022-05-20T13:56:12Z","timestamp":1653054972000},"page":"2521","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":127,"title":["Sex Differences in the Prevalence of Head and Neck Cancers: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study of 10 Million Healthy People"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7118-3463","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jun-Ook","family":"Park","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Inn-Chul","family":"Nam","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9551-9571","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Choung-Soo","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6370-5997","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sung-Joon","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Gwangmyeong Hospital, Gwangmyeon-si 14353, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4049-2823","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dong-Hyun","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1802-8952","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hyun-Bum","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kyung-Do","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1158-0974","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Young-Hoon","family":"Joo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1174","DOI":"10.1158\/1055-9965.EPI-08-1118","article-title":"Sex disparities in cancer incidence by period and age","volume":"18","author":"Cook","year":"2009","journal-title":"Cancer Epidemiol. 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