The influence of marital status on survival in patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

Wei Sun,Minghui Cao,Zhongqi Liu,Wenqi Huang,Zeting Qiu,Wulin Tan,Zhongxing Wang

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.18538

Abstract

Marital status was found to be an independent prognostic factor for survival in several cancers. However related researches of oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) are still rare. We explored the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program and finally identified 14,194 patients with OTSCC. Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox regression models were used to distinguish risk factors for overall survival (OS) and tumor cause-specific survival (TCSS). Widowed patients had the highest percentage of female, highest average ages and more prevalence with localized SEER Stage significantly, while patients in the single group were younger than other groups. After univariate analysis and multivariate analysis, marital status was demonstrated to be an independent prognostic factor of OS and TCSS. Married patients showed better 5-year OS (65.6%) and 5-year TCSS (89.9%) than other patients. Subgroup survival analysis according to AJCC TNM stage and SEER stage showed that the widowed patients demonstrated worst OS and TCSS compared to other groups. Marital status was an important prognostic factor for survival in patients with OTSCC. Widowed patients exhibited with the highest risk of death compared with other groups.

Highlights

Cancers of lip and oral cavity affected about 300,373 new cases and killed 145,353 people all over the world in 2012 based on GLOBOCAN estimates [1]
Subgroup survival analysis according to American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor node metastases (TNM) stage and SEER stage showed that the widowed patients demonstrated worst overall survival (OS) and tumor cause-specific survival (TCSS) compared to other groups
We firstly explored the influence of marital status on overall survival and tumor causespecific survival in patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Summary

Introduction

Cancers of lip and oral cavity affected about 300,373 new cases and killed 145,353 people all over the world in 2012 based on GLOBOCAN estimates [1]. Oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) is oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) originating from the tongue. Tobacco smoking and alcohol use is two principal risk factors of OCSCC [2]. Infection with human papilloma virus (HPV) especially HPV 16 is strongly related with occurrence of tongue cancer [3]. OCSCC including OTSCC can be classified into stage I-IV according to the tumor node metastases (TNM) staging system of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) [4]. Nowadays the notions of health and disease have more and more emphasized the position of social and psychological factors in disease development, which is called biopsychosocial medical model [7, 8]. Almost all the clinical studies of tongue cancer concentrated on the importance of clinical factors [9, 10], while few studies focused on the roles of social and psychological factors

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