%0 Journal Article
%T Negative excess oral and pharyngeal cancer mortality in Europe during the early pandemic years.
%A Petti S
%J Oral Dis
%V 0
%N 0
%D 2024 Jun 27
%M 38938075
%F 4.068
%R 10.1111/odi.15055
%X <B>OBJECTIVE: </B>The COVID-19 pandemic had direct and indirect effects on oral and pharyngeal cancer (OPC) mortality due to high COVID-19 mortality risk among cancer patients, and to the COVID-19 response that caused treatment delays and reduced routine visits. This study investigated the excess OPC mortality in Europe during the early pandemic years.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>Mortality and population data were gathered from the Eurostat database. The 2011-2019 mortality rates were used to estimate the 2020-2021 expected rates through joinpoint trend analysis. The excess mortality rates (observed minus expected mortality) with 95% confidence intervals (95 CIs) were assessed.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>Statistically significant negative excess age-standardized and crude (age strata <65 and ≥65 years) OPC mortality rates in males and females, in the European Union (EU, 27 countries) and Europe were reported. The estimated OPC missing deaths in EU were 831 (95 CI, 630-985) and 1240 (95 CI, 1039-1394) in 2020 and 2021, respectively, with differences between sexes, age strata, and countries. The OPC deaths in the EU and Europe were 3.6% and 3.5% lower than expected.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>Missing OPC deaths reported in Europe in 2020-2021 could be explained by changes in death certification of OPC patients who developed COVID-19, rather than a real OPC mortality decline.