Relationship of Plummer-Vinson disease to cancer of the upper alimentary tract in Sweden

Abstract

Sideropenic anemia with epithelial lesions (Plummer-Vinson syndrome) was previously very common among women in northern Sweden. The incidence of this condition is decreasing, however, because of better nutrition and improved health care. Plummer-Vinson syndrome as a sequela of previous sideropenic anemia still influences the pattern of hypopharyngeal and oral cancer in northern Sweden where the female/male ratio in these diseases is remarkably high and where cancer in the postcricoid part of the hypopharynx is relatively common. In Sweden as a whole, a decreasing trend in the incidence of hypopharyngeal cancer in women can be demonstrated, which is probably due to diminished prevalence of Plummer-Vinson syndrome.