A study of epidemiologic and recurrence factors of oral cancer

To analyze the epidemiologic characteristics and recurrence factors of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in northwest China.

Patients with OSCC whose first visits to the Stomatology Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University from January 2007 through December 2008 were investigated. The epidemiologic risk factors and recurrence of OSCC were studied with logistic regression and a Cox regression model.

The mean age of all 414 patients with OSCC was 58.16 ± 9.92 years; 67.15% were men, 43.24% were cigarette smokers, and 26.09% came from rural areas. In addition, 49.03% of these patients were diagnosed at an early stage. One hundred forty-seven patients developed recurrence of the disease, and the median progression-free survival was 7.3 months (range, 1.1 to 32.5 mo). The recurrence rate was approximately 35.5%.

The study indicated that smoking habit, older age, and living in rural areas were the high-risk epidemiologic factors for OSCC. Smoking habit and late clinical stage were the high-risk factors for the recurrence of OSCC.