Esophageal cancer at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) is the leading cancer in men with a poor prognosis. A case control study aimed at the histology type, gender, and risk indicators was carried out at MTRH. Mantel Haenszel chi-square and logistic regression were employed for analysis. Squamous-cell carcinoma was the common histological type occurring in the middle third portion of the oesophagus. The occurrence of the cancer in males was 1.4 times that of females. The mean age was 56.1？yrs. Low socioeconomic, smoking, snuff use, alcohol, tooth loss, cooking with charcoal and firewood, hot beverage, and use of mursik were independently associated with esophageal cancer . Using logistic regression adjusted for various factors, alcohol consumption was associated with the increased risk of esophageal cancer. AHR was 0.45 and 95% CI: 0.205–0.985, . A societal component of low socioeconomic conditions, a lifestyle component with specific practices such as the consumption of mursik, chang’aa, busaa, snuff, smoking, hot tea, poor oral hygiene, and an environmental component with potential exposure to high levels of nitrosamines, passive smoking, and cooking with coal, could be involved. The increase in experts at MTRH capable of diagnosing could be responsible for the increase in reporting this neoplasm. 1. Introduction Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common malignancy and sixth most common cause of cancer death worldwide [1]. It is one of the most deadly cancers with overall 5-year survival less than 10% [2]. An infamous “esophageal cancer belt” stretching from the north-eastern part of Iran to northern China has presented extremely high incidence of esophageal cancer, mainly squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) [3, 4]. South America, North America, Europe, India, and Southern Africa are other areas with high incidence rates of esophageal cancer [5–9]. Cancer of esophagus is a major and serious health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa [10]. It is a malignancy with a very poor prognosis. Esophageal cancer (EC) has striking geographic and sex variations in its incidence both regionally and worldwide. Western Kenya has a high rate of esophageal cancer [11–15]. The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) is a tertiary level hospital, situated in the Rift Valley and has 800 bed capacity serving the population of Western Kenya. Cancer of the esophagus is the leading malignancy in males and only third to cancer of cervix and breast in females in terms of total cancer incidence reported at MTRH [13, 14]. The common symptoms of cancer of the esophagus are
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