Oral Cancer Surveillance and Control in Alberta: A Scoping Review

Objectives: To summarize general information on the prevalence of oral cancer in Alberta, where and by whom patients with oral cancer are diagnosed for the first time, and the allocated funds for oral cancer prevention in Alberta.
Methods: A scoping literature review of electronic databases was conducted using Web of Science, Scopus, Medline, PubMed, and Embase. Hand search of gray data, Google and Google Scholar search engine were also performed to include relevant articles and gray literature. Additional telephone calls with Alberta Cancer Foundation, Surveillance and Reporting, and Alberta Cancer Registry were also made to gather relevant information uncovered by search engines. Titles and abstracts of the published articles were screened by 2 reviewers. Reports with relevant abstracts received full text review and were examined for inclusion in the scoping literature review.
Results: A total of 35 papers were identified as potential relevant records; among them, 16 were selected for full text analysis, and 10 reports were included. From Google search engine, eight websites were relevant and included in our review. Responses from conversations with 3 institutions were also incorporated in this analysis. We found that oral cancer is the 13th most common cancer in Alberta and prevalent in males over age 45. Included studies have also shown an association between survival outcomes and factors such as demographics and treatment plan. While oral cancer is 73% preventable with life style changes, currently, there is no prevention program or routine oral cancer screening in place in Alberta.
Conclusions: Factors such as lack of prevention strategy and limited funding allocated to oral cancer research in Alberta may be contributing to its increasing prevalence. This scoping review revealed a significant knowledge gap regarding oral cancer screening and prevention initiatives in Alberta.