Frequência de carcinoma epidermoide oral em pacientes jovens em serviços de referência ao redor do mundo

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma is a malignant neoplasm originating from the lining epithelium of the mouth, which accounts for approximately 95% of malignant neoplasms that affect this anatomical region, being, therefore, the most common oral cancer. As with other malignancies, its incidence increases with the patient's age and oral squamous cell carcinoma thus becomes more frequent in people over 45 years of age, being uncommon in young individuals; however, over the past few decades some studies developed mainly in the USA and in the Nordic countries of Europe have shown a possible tendency to increase the incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma in the younger group of patients (generally <40 years of age), especially among white women who have never been exposed to the most well-known risk factors for the development of the disease. Indeed, a possible explanation for this change in the epidemiological profile remains non-existent. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the frequency of oral squamous cell carcinoma in young patients (<40 years old) in reference services in the diagnosis and / or treatment of oral diseases around the world. For this purpose, from January / 1998 to December / 2018, demographic data referring to patients affected by carcinoma were collected from the service files located in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, United Kingdom, Spain, South Africa, India and China. oral epidermoid, including information on sex, age, location and year of diagnosis of all cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma, as well as information on microscopic differentiation and exposure to risk factors for the group of young patients. Information was collected on 10,727 cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma, with 626 cases (5.8%) affecting young patients. Among young people, men remained the most affected, with an average age of 33.4 years. The tongue / floor was the most affected region, with the exception of India, where the bottom of the vestibule was most affected. Most cases are diagnosed as well or moderately different neoplasms (71.9%). Only 16.2% of young patients reported never being exposed to risk factors such as alcohol and tobacco. We did not observe an increasing trend in the frequency of cases in young patients in any investigated service, however, we observed a decreasing trend in Brazil and China, which was repeated when the general sample was evaluated. Thus, we conclude that young patients under 40 years of age never exposed to risk factors for oral squamous cell carcinoma represent an unusual group of patients and our results do not corroborate the findings described in the USA and Nordic countries of an increase in the incidence of the disease in this population.