Clinicodemographic Study of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma in a Tertiary Hospital of Western Maharashtra: A Retrospective Study
Objectives: To identify the trends in the age group, gender, sites affected, clinical and histopathological grading in OSCC patients in a tertiary care center in a rural population.
Methods: The clinicodemographic profile of histologically confirmed 600 patients of OSCC was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlations using the chi-square test and odds ratios between the two variables. The p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: The largest number of patients [158(26.3%)] were in the age group of 51 to 60 years, the mean age was 52.84 years, and the male: female ratio was 2.4:1. Seventy-four percent of patients had habits of smokeless tobacco and were from low socioeconomic status. The prevalence of oral cancer differed significantly according to habits (OR=5.15, 54.25, and 8.96 for tobacco chewing, smoking, and alcohol, respectively). Gingivobuccal sulcus was the most common site [221(36.83%)], followed by alveolus (21.34%) and tongue (15.0%). The prevalence of oral cancer significantly differed for tongue and alveolus in males and females (OR=2.34, p=0.001 for tongue, p=0.004 for alveolus). Association between buccal mucosa and/GBS and tongue tumor site and males was found to be statistically significant (p=0.001). Alveolus was also significantly associated with men (p=0.002). Morphologically, ulcerative lesion was the most common presentation [250(41.66%)], and most of the patients presented in the advanced stage (stage III and stage IV).
Conclusions: The present study highlights that the majority of OSCC cases present during the 4th to 6th decade of life, and this was due to poor lifestyle patterns, which can be prevented by avoidance of tobacco and alcohol consumption, a healthy diet, good oral and sexual hygiene, active screening, early diagnosis, and public awareness.
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