Clinicopathologic features of oral squamous cell carcinoma: do they vary in different age groups?

Purpose: To analyze clinicopathologic parameters of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in different age groups. We hypothesized that clinical and pathologic parameters of OSCCs will vary in different age groups.

Materials and methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. All patients who were treated for a primary manifestation of OSCC at a single institution from 2001 to 2012 were reviewed and allocated to predefined age groups (predictor variable) as follows: young (≤40 years), middle-aged (40-80 years), and very elderly (≥80 years). The following outcome variables were recorded: demographic parameters, classic risk factors, tumor location and size, neck node involvement, histopathologic and therapeutic details, and association with human papillomavirus (HPV). The descriptive statistics were computed. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used for additional analysis. The significance level was set at P < .05.

Results: We reviewed 739 patients and identified 11 (1.4%) young (mean age 34.2 ± 2.8 years) and 17 (2.3%) very elderly patients (mean age 83.1 ± 1.2 years). The predilection site for OSCC was the oral tongue (63%) in young patients, the floor of the mouth (52%) in middle-aged patients, and the alveolar process (60%) in very elderly patients. One patient in the young group (9%) and 8 patients in the very elderly group (47%) had been exposed to risk factors; however, all of the examined middle-aged patients had had such exposure. The association of OSCC with HPV was distributed equally among the age groups. No age-related differences in the histopathologic parameters of OSCC were found.

Conclusions: The features of OSCC that vary at different ages are the anatomic predilection site and the association with classic risk factors. HPV was not an age-related independent risk factor for OSCC development in the present study.