RESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: It was evaluated epidemiological aspects of primary lip squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) and its associations with clinicopathological factors. STUDY DESIGN: This retrospective, cross-sectional study analysed a socio-demographic, clinical, and morphological data of HNSCC in a Brazilian population (n=30). Data analysis included descriptive statistics and bivariate analyses using the chi-square and Fisher 's exact tests to compare the variables. RESULTS: The LSCC represented 10.8% of all oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. Lip malignant disease was more prevalent in elderly men, with male-to-female ratio of 5:1. Lower lip was more affected. It was observed high rates of chronic solar exposure, and tobacco and alcohol drinking habits. Clinically, early TNM staging, small tumour lesions, and non-metastatic disease were predominant findings. It was identified a high frequency of well differentiated tumor samples. Worse Karnofsky performance status was associated with cervical metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that LSCC patients exhibited similar epidemiological and clinical profiles as noted in other studies. Still, the occurrence of metastatic disease was associated with a worse physical performance status of the LSCC patients during diagnosis.