Causes of death after oral cancer diagnosis: a population based study

Nowadays, the number of oral cancer survivors is increasing, emphasizing the importance of thoroughly understanding diverse causes of death in oral cancer survivors. Our study aimed to investigate the distribution of causes of death after oral cancer diagnosis.

Eligible patients were identified between 2004 and 2015 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. We calculated the number of deaths in different demographic and clinicopathological variables during each follow-up period. Standardized mortality ratios(SMRs) were generated for each cause of death after oral cancer diagnosis.

A total of 30538 patients diagnosed with oral cancer were included, and 17654 deaths were reported during follow-up period. 27.08% of deaths were caused by non-caner reasons. The proportion of non-cancer related deaths increased with the extension of survival time, and non-cancer death accounted for 57.93% of all deaths when followed up more than 10 years. The most common non-cancer cause of death was cardiovascular disease (SMR 4.68#; 95%CI 4.46-4.92).

Non-cancer causes of death should not be ignored in oral cancer patients. For oral cancer survivors, multidisciplinary follow-up strategy should be recommended to achieve longer survival time.