Assessing survival outcomes of patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma: Focus on age, sex, and stage.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to provide further insights into whether age and/or sex are associated with prognosis in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study utilizing hospital registry data from 2006 to 2016 obtained from the National Cancer Database. Identified patients were divided into various cohorts based on age, sex, and staging. A descriptive analysis was performed using chi-square tests and overall survival rates were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: A total of 17 642 patients were included in the study. The 5-year overall survival rates were 82.0% (95% CI 79.8%-84.0%) in younger patients versus 67.5% (95% CI 66.7%-68.3%, p-value <0.0001) older patients. The median overall survival for females was 143.4 months (95% CI 133.2-NA) versus 129.8 (95% CI 125.4-138.7, p-value <0.0001) in males. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis suggests that younger age and female sex are both predictors of improved survival in oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.