Background: The purposes of this study were to assess the influence of age on oral squamous cell carcinoma patients and sought to analyze the reasons that may contribute to this difference.
Methods: This study enrolled 2,782 patients included 2,443 patients in a retrospective cohort to find the influence of age and 339 patients in a prospective cohort to testify these findings. The patients were divided into young age-group (≤40 years old), moderate age-group (41-75 years old), and advanced age-group (>75 years old). All patients were diagnosed as oral squamous cell carcinoma and were surgically treated in our hospital. Chi-square test, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and Cox proportional-hazards regression model were performed for statistical analysis.
Results: Younger patients started smoking (p < 0.001) and drinking (p < 0.001) earlier than the older patients and consumed more tobacco (p = 0.005) and alcohol (p = 0.156). Patients with advanced age had worse outcomes in both recurrence (p = 0.002) and survival (p < 0.001). They also had more severe comorbidity (p < 0.001) and were more likely to receive conservative treatment (p = 0.011).
Conclusions: Compared with young patients, older patients had worse prognosis, and it was related with their more severe comorbidity and received more conservative treatment. Young adults smoking and drinking earlier and heavier than old patients, it may relate with their occurrence of oral squamous cell carcinoma.
Keywords: age; comorbidity; oral squamous cell carcinoma; prognosis; treatment.
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