Clinico-demographic profile and survival analysis of oral cancer patients: results from tertiary cancer care hospital in western Maharashtra, India

Background: Oral cancer has a significant public health importance in India. The overall survival rate is below 50% and has remained so for many decades in spite of immense research ongoing in the field of oncology. This lays the foundation for the search of prognostically relevant factors in order to customize the individual management of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients. Objective was to evaluate and corelate clinico-demographic features and survival of selected OSCC cases. Methods: This retrospective hospital based cohort study was carried out at Mahatma Gandhi Cancer Hospital, Miraj, Maharashtra, India. A total of 1100 OSCC patients enrolled to the hospital’s registry for management of OSCC with curative intent in the period from January 2011 to December 2016 were considered. The primary outcome measure was set as overall survival. Secondary outcome included disease-specific and disease-free survival. Student t test and chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted for survival analysis. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to assess the role of predictors. Results: The mean overall survival for the entire cohort of patients was 33.96±31.19 (month’s ±SD). Buccal mucosa was the commonest location and significantly less mean survival was observed for lesions located on alveolar ridges, retromolar trigone and floor of mouth and lesions in clinical stage IV. Conclusions: It is the extreme need of hour to increase public awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption and early detection of oral cancer.