Clinicopathological features and outcomes of major salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma: do they vary in different age groups.

Abstract

BackgroundThe aim of this study was to analyze clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic value of age stratification for in patients with major salivary gland mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MSG-MEC).MethodsMSG-MEC patients were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database between 2010 and 2014. We examined the clinicopathological variables using Chi-squared tests. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the effects of each variable on survival.ResultsA total of 729 patients were analyzed. Younger patients tended to be female and present with low grade disease and less-advanced N classification (P<0.05). In multivariate analyses, the patients aged 5–19 had better survival rates, and the risk of death became higher with increasing age. Compared to patients aged 80–95-years-old, the hazard ratios for patients aged 5–19, 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69 and 70–79 years old were 0.000 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.000–>1,000), 0.187 (95% CI: 0.041–0.854), 0.172 (95% CI: 0.039–0.771), 0.006 (95% CI: 0.010–0.361), 0.310 (95% CI: 0.140–0.685), 0.541 (95% CI: 0.261–1.121) and 0.440 (95% CI: 0.230–0.840), respectively. Subgroups analysis shows that the effect of advancing age was significantly associated with a higher risk of poor survival in Caucasian who harbored N0 classification (P<0.001), non-metastatic disease (P<0.001) or received surgery (P<0.001).ConclusionsYounger patients tended to be female and present with low grade disease and less-advanced N classification. The risk of death became higher with increasing age. However, when considering patients affected by more aggressive disease, age was not significantly associated with higher risk of dying from MSG-MEC. In high-risk patients, tumor characteristics rather than age should be considered when making treatment decisions.