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AnimalMuppet 7 hours ago

70% of throat cancers? In a world with cigarettes and chewing tobacco? I find that a very surprising number - so surprising it's almost unbelievable.

Got a source?

tialaramex 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Think of it as shared responsibility. The tobacco and the virus are both reasons why you got cancer and died, prizes for all.

So maybe 70% of throat cancer victims have HPV, and like 70% smoked - and if those were independent facts you'd expect that about 49% both smoked and had HPV, but it's actually more than half 'cos it turns out that if you have HPV then smoking is even worse. So that's nice.

tokai 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

"Currently, the estimated proportion of oropharyngeal cancers testing positive for HPV within the United States is 68%–70%"[0]

[0] https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/head-an...