Cancer Management and Research (Sep 2018)

Combination of recurrent oral aphthae and dry eye syndrome may constitute an independent risk factor for oral cavity cancer in elderly women

  • Qin L,
  • Kao YW,
  • Lin YL,
  • Peng BY,
  • Deng WP,
  • Chen TM,
  • Lin KC,
  • Yuan KSP,
  • Wu ATH,
  • Shia BC,
  • Wu SY

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 10
pp. 3273 – 3281

Abstract

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Lei Qin,1,* Yi-Wei Kao,2,* Yueh-Lung Lin,3 Bou-Yue Peng,4 Win-Ping Deng,5 Tsung-Ming Chen,6 Kuan-Chou Lin,7 Kevin Sheng-Po Yuan,8 Alexander TH Wu,9 Ben-Chang Shia,10 Szu-Yuan Wu11–14 1School of Statistics, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China; 2Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan; 3School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China; 4Department of Dentistry, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; 5Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 6Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Shuang-Ho Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 7Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 8Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 9PhD Program for Translational Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 10College of Management, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 11Institute of Clinical Science, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China; 12Department of Radiation Oncology, Wanfang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 13Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 14Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Center, Wanfang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Few studies have evaluated the risk of oral cavity cancer (OC) in patients with recurrent oral aphthae (ROA) and dry eye syndrome (DES). This study assessed the risk of OC in patients who had received diagnoses of ROA and DES in Taiwan.Methods: A population-based frequency-matched case–control study was conducted in which data were analyzed from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. Patients with ROA and DES were identified as the case cohort. Patients and controls without ROA and DES were frequency matched (1:4) on the basis of age, sex, monthly income, geographical location, and urbanization level. Chi-squared tests were conducted to compare demographic factor distributions between the patients and controls. Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate the adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% CI of OC diagnoses among the patients and controls. Risk consistency between the two cohorts was determined using subgroup analysis.Results: A total of 7,110 patients with ROA and DES and 28,388 controls were identified. The OC risk was significantly higher for female patients than controls (aHR=3.41, 95% CI=1.69–6.86). Furthermore, women aged 50–69 years exhibited a higher risk of OC than those in the other age groups. Female patients aged 50–59 years exhibited the highest aHR for OC (aHR=5.56, 95% CI=1.70–18.25), followed by those aged 60–69 years (aHR=4.34, 95% CI=1.26–15.99).Conclusion: ROA and DES may be associated with a high risk of OC in elderly women. Keywords: risk factor, oral cavity cancer, recurrent oral aphthae, dry eye syndrome, women

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