Alcohol Consumption History as a Predictive Factor of Survival in Patients with Mouth and Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Follow-up of 15 Years

Abstract

Introduction: Squamous cell carcinoma is the most important tumor in the head and neck region, due to its incidence and mortality. It is known that factors as alcohol consumption are related to the decrease of the survival of tumors, either stimulating tumor progression or causing considerable comorbidities, being an important study factor. Objective: Evaluate the influence of alcohol history on clinical and prognostic characteristics of patients with mouth oropharynx squamous cell carcinoma (MOSCC). Method: A retrospective cohort study in which 156 charts of alcoholic patients and 78 medical charts of non-alcoholic patients with MOSCC diagnosed at Haroldo Juaçaba Hospital in Fortaleza, state of Ceará were evaluated between 2000 and 2014 for data analysis such as age, gender and race, tumor location, TNM staging, treatments performed and 15-year survival through X², Long-Rank and Cox and multinomial regression models (SPSS 20.0; p <0.05). Results: Men were more prevalent among alcoholic patients (p <0.001), with T3/4 tumors (p = 0.003), positive lymph nodes (p = 0.006) who submitted to palliative treatments (p<0.001) and lower prevalence under 65 years (p <0.001), when there was a family history of cancer (p = 0.043). The survival of alcoholic patients was lower (p = 0.040) and the factors that independently reduced survival were male sex (p = 0.042), T3-T4 staging (p = 0.004), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.012), age> 65 years (p = 0.035) and tumor in the tongue (p = 0.042). Male sex was independently associated with alcohol consumption (p<0.001). Conclusion: Alcohol is a prognostic factor in patients with MOSCC, showing a higher prevalence in T3-T4 patients and, thus, negatively influencing the prognosis.