Treatment Interval Effects on Prognoses of Oral Cancer Patients

Objective: To determine the effect of treatment interval (TI) on the survival of patients with oral cancer at a tertiary healthcare institute.Material and Methods: The medical records of patients with oral cancer between 2010 and 2018 who complied with the inclusion criteria. The information collected included demographic data, tumor subsite, staging, initial treatment, date of diagnosis, date of treatment, and last follow-up date. TI was defined as the period between the dates of diagnosis and treatment. The impact of the TI was illustrated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier curve and compared using the log-rank test. The Cox proportional hazard ratio (HR) was used to describe the correlation between variables. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the factors associated with TI p-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of 1,806 oral cancer patients recruited, 1,565 met the criteria and were analyzed for sensitivity and specificity. The cutoff for the TI was set at 18 days, beyond which patient survival was negatively impacted (HR=1.27; 95% CI=1.01, 1.6), p-value=0.038. The study also found that factors such as religion, advanced staging, radiation therapy, and distance from tertiary hospitals were associated with the TI.Conclusion: Patients with oral cancer who had a TI of 18 days or more had a statistically significant negative correlation with survival rates compared to those with a TI of less than 18 days. Other factors such as religion, disease stage, primary treatment with radiation, and distance from residence to hospital were associated with TI.