Incidence of Salivary Gland Disorders in Rasht City from 2016 to 2021

Background: Determining the incidence of lesions in communities, including salivary gland diseases, is an important pillar of epidemiological studies that affects the recognition of oral lesions.Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the incidence of salivary gland lesions referred to the pathology centers in Rasht City between 2016 and 2021. Methods: This retrospective study is of a descriptive-analytical type, which was conducted using the records of 261 patients between 2016 and 2021, referring to the archived records at Rasht pathobiology laboratories. The required information, including the age and sex of the patients, histopathological diagnosis, and location of the lesions, was recorded and analyzed by SPSS 26 software using the incidence formula at a significance level of less than 0.05. Results: The highest incidence was observed for benign tumors (15.44 per 100,000 individuals), non-neoplastic salivary lesions (15.29 per 100,000 individuals), and malignant tumors (4.85 per 100,000 individuals), respectively. The highest frequency based on the location of secondary salivary glands was related to the palate region (48.4%), and based on the type of main gland, the parotid gland (63.5%). Pleomorphic adenoma and inflammatory lesions had the highest incidence. Conclusions: Based on the results of the present study, the incidence of salivary gland neoplastic lesions has increased in the last 5 years. Pleomorphic adenoma and adenocystic carcinoma were the most common benign and malignant tumors reported in this study, respectively. These findings highlight the need for further studies on the causes of salivary gland neoplasms.