Oral tongue squamous cell carcinomas in young patients according to their smoking status: a GETTEC study

Incidence of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is increasing, especially in young adults, despite decreasing tobacco and alcohol consumption.

This multicentric retrospective study of 185 young adults with OTSCC (median follow-up 43 months), investigated risk factors, tumour characteristics and oncological outcomes according to the smoking status.

Overall, 38% of patients were smokers (S). Non-smokers (NS) were significantly younger than S. Sex ratios were 1.1 for N and 1.8 for S. NS patients were less frequently cannabis or alcohol users than S, but were more likely to have a history of leukoplakia. Second primaries were observed in NS (4.4%) and in S (12.7%). Despite more frequent local relapse in NS (p = 0.018), there was no difference in diagnostic stage and overall survival between groups.

OTSCC affects differently young S and NS patients suggesting the existence of a specific clinical entity of OTSCC in non-smoking young adults.