Preliminary assessment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma incidence in the Philippines: a second look at published data from four centers

In endemic regions such as southern China and Southeast Asia, the annual incidence of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) ranges from 3 to 30 per 100,000. In the Philippines, the estimated incidence in 2010 was 1.2 per 100,000. However, this rate is based on data collected from registries covering only two regions in the country. Here, we report the findings from our study to better approximate the incidence of NPC in the Philippines. Between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2012, data were collected from 49 patients from 4 different institutions-University of Santo Tomas, Makati Medical Center, Philippine Oncology Center Corporation, and Cardinal Santos Memorial Medical Center-using a NPC screening questionnaire. Crude incidence was 0.09 per 100,000. Age-standardized incidences using Segi and WHO standards were 2.08 and 1.79 per 100,000, respectively. Of the 49 patients, 31 were males and 18 were females, and 71% of patients were between 30 and 59 years old. WHO types II and III represented 22% and 78% of the subjects, respectively, and 75.5% of cases were locally advanced (stages III-IVB). Although the age-standardized incidence from the 4 institutions was numerically higher than the published age-standardized incidence (2.07 per 100,000 vs. 1.2 per 100,000), two-proportion z-test showed no significant difference between them (P = 0.68). A more concerted effort is needed for a better approximation of the country's NPC disease burden.