Factors associated with mortality of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients managed at Hospital USM

This study was to determine the sociodemographic and clinicopathological factors that were associated with mortality of OSCC patients managed at Hospital USM. The prevalence of high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) in these patients and its association with epithelial proliferation rate were also determined. A retrospective study was conducted whereby medical records of patients diagnosed with OSCC and tissue specimens from 2005 to 2015 were studied. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue specimens were evaluated for histological grading of OSCC, p16 overexpression and Ki-67 immunostaining. Descriptive statistics, simple and multiple logistics regressions were used for data analysis. Prognostic factors for mortality includes male gender (AOR=10.89; 95% CI: 1.99, 59.65; p = 0.006), alcohol consumption (AOR = 16.45; 95% CI: 1.36, 59.65; p = 0.028), not receiving treatment (AOR = 5.88; 95% CI: 1.03, 33.61; p = 0.046) and late stage (T3, T4) at presentation (AOR = 4.85; 95% CI: 1.12, 21.02; p = 0.035). Significant association was found between high-risk HPV positivity and higher epithelial proliferation rate expression (p < 0.003) in the OSCC tissue specimens.