Five-year relative survival for laryngeal cancer in the United States stands at 62% for people diagnosed in 2015 to 2021, lower than the 66% recorded for 1975 to 1977 (Siegel et al., CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, Cancer Statistics 2026). The disease itself is retreating: the American Cancer Society projects 12,290 new US cases and 3,960 deaths in 2026, and US incidence fell 55% between 1986 and 2018 (Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023). Worldwide, IARC counts 193,937 new cases and 96,619 deaths in 2024 (IARC Global Cancer Observatory, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet). We aggregated data from NCI SEER, the American Cancer Society, IARC GLOBOCAN 2024, the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study, Cancer Research UK, the VA and RTOG 91-11 larynx-preservation trials, and peer-reviewed National Cancer Database analyses. This roundup covers epidemiology and survival only; life after surgery is covered in our voice prosthesis and laryngectomy rehabilitation statistics.
TL;DR
- 12,290 new US cases and 3,960 deaths are projected for 2026 (Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026).
- 5-year relative survival is 62.5% overall and 79.8% for localized disease (NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts: Laryngeal Cancer 2026).
- 5-year survival was 66% in 1975 to 1977 and 62% in 2015 to 2021 (Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026).
- US incidence fell 55% from 1986 to 2018, while mortality fell 43% (Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023).
- 193,937 new cases and 96,619 deaths occurred worldwide in 2024 (IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet).
- Men account for 169,734 of the global cases, women for 24,203 (Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024).
- 89% of laryngeal cancer cases were attributable to tobacco or alcohol in the INHANCE pooled analysis (Hashibe et al., Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention 2009).
- 66.5% of global laryngeal cancer deaths in 2021 were attributable to smoking (Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025, GBD 2021).
- Black patients had worse overall survival than White patients in SEER (HR 1.37) but not inside the Veterans Health Administration (HR 0.95) (Voora et al., Cancer 2021).
- 10-year larynx preservation reached 81.7% with concomitant chemoradiation in RTOG 91-11 (Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013).
- Upfront surgery for cT4a disease rose from 41.0% in 2004 to 65.3% in 2022 (Orr et al., Head and Neck 2026, National Cancer Database).
1. New Cases, Deaths, and Long-Run Trends in the United States
Laryngeal cancer is now a small slice of the US cancer burden, about 0.6% of all new cancer cases, with a median age at diagnosis of 67 and rates of new cases falling by an average of 2.5% per year over 2014 to 2023 (NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts: Laryngeal Cancer 2026). The American Cancer Society ties the decline to falling smoking rates and puts lifetime risk at about 1 in 200 for men and 1 in 840 for women (American Cancer Society, Key Statistics for Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancers 2026).
The uncomfortable part is the gap between the two curves. Incidence dropped 55% between 1986 and 2018, but mortality dropped only 43%, so the share of patients who die of the disease went up, not down (Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023). The authors of that SEER-based cohort study trace it to a specific pattern: the decline came mostly from fewer localized diagnoses, the stage with the best outlook.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated new US cases, 2026 | 12,290 (9,730 men, 2,560 women) | Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026 |
| Estimated US deaths, 2026 | 3,960 (3,180 men, 780 women) | Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026 |
| Age-adjusted rates per 100,000 per year | 2.5 new cases (2019-2023), 0.9 deaths (2020-2024) | NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts 2026 |
| People living with laryngeal cancer in the US | 87,355 (2023) | NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts 2026 |
| Lifetime risk | About 1 in 200 men, 1 in 840 women | American Cancer Society, Key Statistics 2026 |
| Incidence change, 1986 to 2018 | -55% (5.00 to 2.26 per 100,000) | Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023 |
| Mortality change, 1986 to 2018 | -43% (1.59 to 0.89 per 100,000) | Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023 |
| 5-year mean case-fatality rate | 31% (1986-1990) to 37% (2014-2018) | Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023 |
Context: by subsite, the same study found 53.3% of tumors in the glottis and 33.0% in the supraglottis across 1986 to 2016, with 12.1% not otherwise specified. The glottis is the area that contains the vocal cords, which is why this cancer is so closely tied to voice change and to the measurement tools covered in our acoustic voice analysis and dysphonia statistics.
2. Five-Year Survival by Stage
Stage at diagnosis does most of the work. Roughly half of US cases (48.7%) are caught while still localized, and those patients have a 5-year relative survival close to 80%; once the disease has spread to distant sites the figure is about 36% (NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts: Laryngeal Cancer 2026).
What sets the larynx apart from most cancer sites is the direction of travel. Five-year survival was 66% in 1975 to 1977, 66% in 1995 to 1997, and 62% in 2015 to 2021 (Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026, Table 6), over a period when the same report shows survival for all cancers combined rising to 70%. UK data point the same way: a six-centre study of 2,028 patients treated with curative intent found no significant change in disease-specific survival across diagnosis years 2015 to 2021 (Rajgor et al., Clinical Otolaryngology 2026).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| US 5-year relative survival, all stages | 62.5% (2016-2022) | NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts 2026 |
| US stage at diagnosis | Localized 49%, regional 30%, distant 15%, unknown 6% | NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts 2026 |
| US 5-year relative survival by stage | Local 79%, regional 49%, distant 35% (2015-2021) | American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 |
| US 5-year survival trend | 66% (1975-77), 66% (1995-97), 62% (2015-2021) | Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026 |
| England net 5-year survival by stage | Stage 1 almost 90%, stage 2 around 70%, stage 3 almost 55%, stage 4 almost 35% | Cancer Research UK, Survival for Laryngeal Cancer (diagnoses 2014-2016) |
| UK men, survival at 1, 5 and 10 years | Around 85%, more than 60%, around 45% | Cancer Research UK, Survival for Laryngeal Cancer |
| Northern UK 5-year overall survival by T stage | T1 72.0%, T2 54.5%, T3 50.6%, T4 45.2% | Rajgor et al., Clinical Otolaryngology 2026 |
| Northern UK 5-year survival, whole cohort | 57.1% (2,028 patients, 2015-2021) | Rajgor et al., Clinical Otolaryngology 2026 |
Most recent available data: the England stage-specific figures come from Cancer Research UK and cover patients diagnosed in 2014 to 2016; the charity states that no UK-wide figures by stage exist. US relative survival and UK net or overall survival are different measures and should not be compared digit for digit.
3. Disparities by Sex, Race, and Access to Care
Laryngeal cancer is overwhelmingly a male disease, and within the male population the burden is not evenly shared. Non-Hispanic Black men have the highest rates of both new cases and deaths in the SEER data, and Black patients have trailed White patients on survival in every period the American Cancer Society tabulates.
The more useful finding is about why. In SEER data, Black patients had worse overall survival after multivariable adjustment (HR 1.37), and adjusting for TNM stage reduced the gap in cancer-specific survival by 83%. Inside the equal-access Veterans Health Administration, the survival gap disappeared (HR 0.95; 95% CI 0.89-1.02; P = .14) (Voora et al., Cancer 2021). The authors read that contrast as evidence that access to health care plays a significant role in the racial gap.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New cases per 100,000, men vs women | 4.3 vs 0.9 (2019-2023) | NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts 2026 |
| Non-Hispanic Black men vs non-Hispanic White men | 6.2 vs 4.5 new cases; 2.5 vs 1.6 deaths per 100,000 | NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts 2026 |
| 5-year relative survival, Black vs White | 56% vs 63% (2015-2021) | Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026 |
| 5-year relative survival, Black patients over time | 58% (1975-77), 52% (1995-97), 56% (2015-2021) | Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics 2026 |
| Overall survival, Black vs White, SEER 2004-2015 | HR 1.37 (95% CI 1.26-1.50; P < .0001), 7,122 patients | Voora et al., Cancer 2021 |
| Overall survival, Black vs White, VHA 2000-2017 | HR 0.95 (95% CI 0.89-1.02; P = .14), 9,248 patients | Voora et al., Cancer 2021 |
| Stage IV share, Medicaid non-expansion states | 33.1% before the ACA, 45.1% after (P < .001) | Nurimba et al., Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2025 |
| Stage IV share, Medicaid expansion states | 32.5% before the ACA, 41.8% after (P < .001) | Nurimba et al., Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2025 |
Outlier note: the same National Cancer Database study of 28,843 patients found that survival improved after the Affordable Care Act only in Medicaid expansion states (HR 0.904; 95% CI 0.857-0.954), with no significant change in non-expansion states (HR 0.990; 95% CI 0.933-1.052). Stage IV diagnoses rose in both groups, so the survival gain in expansion states did not come from a shift toward earlier-stage diagnosis.
4. Tobacco, Alcohol, and the Attributable Share
Few cancers are as tightly bound to two exposures. In the INHANCE consortium’s pooled analysis of 17 case-control studies, the population attributable risk for tobacco or alcohol was higher for the larynx than for the oral cavity (64%) or pharynx (72%), and tobacco does most of the work: alcohol on its own accounted for under 3% (Hashibe et al., 2009). The American Cancer Society states that more than 80% of lung and laryngeal cancers are caused by smoking (American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026).
Globally, 66.5% of laryngeal cancer deaths in 2021 were attributable to smoking, but the regional spread is wide, from 79.8% in Eastern Europe to 34.8% in Western Sub-Saharan Africa (Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025, GBD 2021). A single global tobacco figure hides a gap of 45 percentage points between the highest and lowest regions (79.8 minus 34.8), so prevention priorities cannot be copied from one region to another.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Laryngeal cancer attributable to tobacco or alcohol | 89% (Table 2: 88.5%; 95% CI 82.1-92.4%) | Hashibe et al., INHANCE pooled analysis 2009 |
| Split of that share | Tobacco alone 52.2%, tobacco and alcohol jointly 33.4%, alcohol alone 2.9% | Hashibe et al., INHANCE pooled analysis 2009 |
| All head and neck cancers attributable to tobacco or alcohol | 72% (95% CI 61-79%) | Hashibe et al., INHANCE pooled analysis 2009 |
| Global laryngeal cancer deaths attributable to smoking, 2021 | 66.5% | Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025 (GBD 2021) |
| Regional range of the smoking share | 79.8% Eastern Europe, 34.8% Western Sub-Saharan Africa | Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025 (GBD 2021) |
| Highest alcohol-attributable share of deaths | 23.5% (Central Europe) | Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025 (GBD 2021) |
| Highest asbestos-attributable share of deaths | 17.9% (Australasia) | Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025 (GBD 2021) |
| Deaths at age 55 and older by risk factor, 2021 | Tobacco 66,667; alcohol 11,840; occupational risks 5,885 | Xiao et al., Frontiers in Public Health 2025 (GBD 2021) |
Most recent available data: the INHANCE attributable-risk estimates were published in 2009 and remain the reference pooled analysis for subsite-specific shares. The GBD-based breakdown for older adults is restricted to people aged 55 and older. A third GBD 2021 paper projects 89,433 smoking-attributable laryngeal cancer deaths among men aged 50 and older in 2040 (Chen et al., Frontiers in Public Health 2025); it is a model projection, not an observed count. On the precursor side, Cancer Research UK reports that laryngeal cancer develops in around 15 out of 100 people with laryngeal dysplasia (Cancer Research UK, Risks and Causes of Laryngeal Cancer 2024).
5. Global Burden by Region
The world total is roughly 16 times the US figure, and its geography is lopsided. Asia carries more than half of all cases, and the sex gap is wide: 169,734 cases in men against 24,203 in women, with age-standardized rates of 3.4 versus 0.4 per 100,000 (Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024). The 16-fold comparison is our arithmetic: 193,937 global cases divided by 12,290 US cases is 15.8, noting that the two estimates are for 2024 and 2026.
The regional shares of cases and deaths do not line up, and the mismatch is the story. Northern America has 7.5% of the world’s cases but 4.8% of its deaths, while Africa has 6.2% of cases and 8.2% of deaths (IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet). GBD 2021 shows the same gradient by development level: an age-standardized death rate of 2.11 per 100,000 in low-middle SDI countries against 0.75 in high SDI countries (Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025).
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New cases worldwide, 2024 | 193,937 (21st among cancer sites, 0.9% of all cases) | Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024 |
| Deaths worldwide, 2024 | 96,619 (19th among cancer sites, 1.0% of all deaths) | Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024 |
| Age-standardized rates (world) per 100,000 | 1.9 incidence, 0.90 mortality | IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet |
| Cases in men vs women | 169,734 vs 24,203 (ASR 3.4 vs 0.4) | Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024 |
| Asia | 106,270 cases (54.8%), 54,347 deaths (56.2%) | IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet |
| Europe | 41,929 cases (21.6%), 18,604 deaths (19.3%) | IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet |
| Northern America vs Africa | 7.5% of cases and 4.8% of deaths vs 6.2% of cases and 8.2% of deaths | IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet |
| Global age-standardized rates, 1990 to 2021 | Incidence 3.07 to 2.29; deaths 2.15 to 1.35 per 100,000 | Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025 (GBD 2021) |
Context: falling rates do not mean falling counts. GBD 2021 estimates 200,883 incident cases and 117,252 deaths in 2021, up 60.4% and 36.7% from 1990, even as the age-standardized rates in the table fell. The country flagged at the top of the IARC fact sheet charts is Cuba, at 8.3 per 100,000 for both sexes and 15.0 for men.
6. Treatment: Larynx Preservation vs Total Laryngectomy
Two randomized trials rewrote the standard of care for advanced disease. The VA Laryngeal Cancer Study showed in 1991 that induction chemotherapy plus radiation matched surgery plus radiation on 2-year survival while sparing the larynx in 64% of patients (VA Laryngeal Cancer Study Group, NEJM 1991). RTOG 91-11 then showed concomitant cisplatin and radiation gave the best larynx preservation, although 10-year overall survival did not differ significantly between arms (Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013).
Over the same decades, total laryngectomy rates in the US fell from 24.1% in 1988 to 11.8% in 2016 (Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023). For the most advanced tumors the pendulum has since swung back. Upfront surgery for cT4a disease rose from 41.0% in 2004 to 65.3% in 2022 (Orr et al., Head and Neck 2026), and 2-year overall survival in that cohort of 12,142 patients improved from 58.2% to 70.3% between 2004 and 2021.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| VA trial: larynx preserved; 2-year survival | 64%; 68% in both arms (332 patients, P = 0.9846) | VA Laryngeal Cancer Study Group, NEJM 1991 |
| RTOG 91-11: 10-year larynx preservation | 81.7% concomitant, 67.5% induction, 63.8% radiation alone | Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013 |
| RTOG 91-11: 10-year overall survival | 27.5% concomitant, 38.8% induction, 31.5% radiation alone | Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013 |
| US total laryngectomy rate | 24.1% (1988) to 11.8% (2016) | Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023 |
| Upfront surgery for cT4a tumors | 41.0% (2004) to 65.3% (2022) | Orr et al., Head and Neck 2026 (NCDB) |
| Median survival, cT4a, propensity-matched | 52.8 months with surgery vs 37.6 months with chemoradiotherapy | Fu et al., Head and Neck 2026 (NCDB) |
| Radiotherapy after laryngectomy for pT4 | 21.2% on time (within 42 days), 66.2% late, 12.6% none | Ashji et al., Head and Neck 2026 (NCDB) |
| Early glottic cancer (T1-2N0M0) primary treatment | 94.4% radiation, 5.6% transoral laser microsurgery (2004-2017) | Huang et al., Journal of Clinical Medicine 2025 (NCDB) |
Caveats: the VA and RTOG results date from 1991 and 2013 (most recent available data: RTOG 91-11 long-term report, 2013), and both trials enrolled stage III or IV disease. The cT4a comparisons are retrospective registry analyses, so patient selection can explain part of the gap: the propensity-matched study reports an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.26 (95% CI 1.02-1.57) for chemoradiotherapy relative to surgery, and an earlier analysis of 11,149 patients found treatment at an academic program tripled the odds of receiving a laryngectomy (OR 3.06; 95% CI 2.39-3.92) (Ritter et al., Cancers 2023). In the postoperative radiotherapy study, each additional week of delay was associated with a 3.7% higher adjusted mortality risk.
7. Voice and Function After Treatment
Keeping the larynx is not the same as keeping the voice, and the data on function are thinner than the survival data. In RTOG 91-11, among disease-free patients with an intact larynx, impaired speech was reported by fewer than one in ten in every arm during years 2 to 5, while swallowing limits were more common and numerically highest in the concomitant arm (Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013). The authors found no substantive differences between arms and caution that missing data limit these comparisons.
For early glottic cancer, the choice between radiation and laser surgery has not been settled by voice outcomes. A meta-analysis of 8 cohort studies (362 patients) found a pooled Voice Handicap Index difference of -5.52 for radiation versus laser microsurgery, with a 95% CI of -11.40 to 0.36 that crosses zero (Greulich et al., Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2015); none of the included studies was randomized. In the newest long-term surgical series, voice outcome tracked the extent of resection.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| RTOG 91-11: impaired speech, years 2 to 5 | 3% to 9% induction, 4% to 8.5% concomitant, 5% to 8.5% radiation alone | Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013 |
| RTOG 91-11: diet limited to soft foods or worse | 13% to 14% induction, 17% to 24% concomitant, 10% to 17% radiation alone | Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013 |
| RTOG 91-11: grade 3 to 5 late toxicity at 10 years | 30.6% induction, 33.3% concomitant, 38% radiation alone | Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013 |
| T1 glottic cancer: pooled VHI difference, radiation vs laser | -5.52 (95% CI -11.40 to 0.36), 8 studies, 362 patients | Greulich et al., Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2015 |
| Median VHI-10 about 5 years after transoral resection | 7, where below 10 is normal (102 patients, median 5.2 years) | Woo et al., Laryngoscope 2026 |
| Median VHI-10 by resection type | 4 for ELS type I, 8 for ELS type Va | Woo et al., Laryngoscope 2026 |
| Expert-rated dysphonia (GRBAS average grade) | 1.5, mild to moderate | Woo et al., Laryngoscope 2026 |
Context: in the 2026 Laryngoscope series, patients rated their own voices as near normal while acoustic analysis and blinded clinicians still detected mild to moderate dysphonia, and there was no pre-treatment baseline. Most recent available data for the VHI meta-analysis: 2015. For patients who do lose the larynx, communication shifts to prostheses and assistive technology, a topic covered in our roundups on speech-generating device insurance coverage and AAC symbol communication apps.
Summary: Laryngeal Cancer by the Numbers
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Estimated new US cases, 2026 | 12,290 | American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 |
| Estimated US deaths, 2026 | 3,960 | American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 |
| US 5-year relative survival, all stages and localized | 62.5% and 79.8% (2016-2022) | NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts 2026 |
| US 5-year survival, 1975-77 vs 2015-2021 | 66% vs 62% | American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 |
| US incidence and mortality change, 1986 to 2018 | -55% and -43% | Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023 |
| 5-year survival, Black vs White patients | 56% vs 63% | American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 |
| Overall survival gap by race inside the VHA | HR 0.95 (95% CI 0.89-1.02) | Voora et al., Cancer 2021 |
| New cases worldwide, 2024 | 193,937 | IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet |
| Deaths worldwide, 2024 | 96,619 | Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024 |
| Share of global cases in Asia | 54.8% | IARC, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet |
| Global cases, men vs women | 169,734 vs 24,203 | Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024 |
| Cases attributable to tobacco or alcohol | 89% | Hashibe et al., INHANCE pooled analysis 2009 |
| Global deaths attributable to smoking, 2021 | 66.5% | Jiang et al., Frontiers in Oncology 2025 (GBD 2021) |
| 10-year larynx preservation, concomitant chemoradiation | 81.7% | Forastiere et al., Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013 |
| Larynx preserved in the VA trial | 64% | VA Laryngeal Cancer Study Group, NEJM 1991 |
| US total laryngectomy rate, 1988 vs 2016 | 24.1% vs 11.8% | Divakar and Davies, JAMA Otolaryngology 2023 |
| Upfront surgery for cT4a tumors, 2004 vs 2022 | 41.0% vs 65.3% | Orr et al., Head and Neck 2026 (NCDB) |
| England stage 1 net 5-year survival | Almost 90% | Cancer Research UK, Survival for Laryngeal Cancer |
Methodology and Sources
Every figure above was read in the cited report, dataset or paper on or before October 11, 2026. Registry and trial numbers are reported with the notation the source uses. Where we did arithmetic (the 15.8 ratio in section 5), the inputs are shown.
- NCI SEER, Cancer Stat Facts: Laryngeal Cancer (2026 release: cases 2019-2023, deaths 2020-2024, survival 2016-2022).
- American Cancer Society, Key Statistics for Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancers (revised May 28, 2026).
- American Cancer Society, Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 (Tables 1, 7 and 8; tobacco section).
- Siegel et al., Cancer Statistics, 2026, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (Tables 1 and 6).
- IARC Global Cancer Observatory, GLOBOCAN 2024 Larynx Fact Sheet (generated July 2026).
- Sung et al., Global Cancer Statistics 2024, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2026 (Tables 1 and 2).
- Jiang et al., Global, regional, and national larynx cancer burden 1990 to 2021, Frontiers in Oncology 2025 (GBD 2021).
- Xiao et al., Burden of laryngeal cancer in middle-aged and older adults, Frontiers in Public Health 2025 (GBD 2021, age 55 and older).
- Chen et al., Reducible burden of laryngeal cancer in men aged 50 and older, Frontiers in Public Health 2025 (GBD 2021).
- Divakar and Davies, Trends in Incidence and Mortality of Larynx Cancer in the US, JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2023 (SEER and NVSS, 1986-2018).
- Hashibe et al., INHANCE consortium pooled analysis, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention 2009.
- Voora et al., Association of race and health care system with disease stage and survival in veterans with larynx cancer, Cancer 2021.
- Nurimba et al., The Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Laryngeal Carcinoma Outcomes, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2025 (NCDB).
- Cancer Research UK, Survival for Laryngeal Cancer (reviewed November 2024) and Risks and Causes of Laryngeal Cancer (reviewed August 2024).
- Rajgor et al., Laryngeal cancer survival in Northern United Kingdom, Clinical Otolaryngology 2026.
- VA Laryngeal Cancer Study Group, Induction chemotherapy plus radiation compared with surgery plus radiation, New England Journal of Medicine 1991.
- Forastiere et al., Long-term results of RTOG 91-11, Journal of Clinical Oncology 2013.
- National Cancer Database analyses: Ritter et al., Cancers 2023; Orr et al., Head and Neck 2026; Fu et al., Head and Neck 2026; Ashji et al., Head and Neck 2026; Huang et al., Journal of Clinical Medicine 2025.
- Voice outcomes: Greulich et al., Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery 2015; Woo et al., Laryngoscope 2026.
- Data watch: (1) Overall US 5-year survival differs by source and period: 62.5% in SEER (2016-2022), 62% in Cancer Facts & Figures 2026 and Cancer Statistics 2026 (2015-2021), and 57% for all SEER stages combined on the American Cancer Society patient page on survival rates (diagnoses 2015-2021, revised May 2026); we use the first two. (2) Global totals depend on the model: GLOBOCAN 2024 gives 193,937 cases and 96,619 deaths, the earlier GLOBOCAN 2022 round gave 189.2 thousand cases and 103.4 thousand deaths (European Journal of Cancer Prevention 2026, as summarized in the French National Cancer Institute’s Nota Bene Cancer bulletin), and GBD 2021 gives 200,883 cases and 117,252 deaths. (3) Subsite shares differ: the American Cancer Society cites about 60% glottic and 35% supraglottic, while the SEER cohort study reports 53.3% and 33.0% with 12.1% unspecified. (4) The American Cancer Society describes death rates falling 2% to 3% a year, while SEER reports an average of 1.3% per year for 2015-2024. (5) Cancer Research UK and the Canadian Cancer Society now publish incidence for head and neck cancers as a group, so no larynx-only UK or Canadian case counts are included. (6) Three 2026 Head and Neck papers (Orr, Fu, Ashji) and the Voora, VA and Rajgor papers were read as abstracts (Europe PMC records and the University of Glasgow repository); full-text tables were not available to us. (7) US larynx-specific attributable fractions from Islami et al. (CA 2024) could not be accessed and were left out. (8) The Xiao et al. paper has a published correction, and National Cancer Database comparisons of surgery and chemoradiotherapy are observational. Newer data expected: the next SEER release and Cancer Statistics 2027.
Last updated: October 11, 2026. We update this roundup quarterly, and the next refresh is expected when the American Cancer Society publishes Cancer Statistics 2027 and Cancer Facts & Figures 2027.