Ricardo Viana Bessa Nogueira

Epidemiological profile of oral squamous cell carcinoma in a Northeastern Brazilian state

Financial support: None. Conflicts of interest: No conflicts of interest declared concerning the publication of this article. Submitted: September 27, 2017. Accepted: May 10, 2018. The study was carried out at Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade Federal de Alagoas (UFAL), Maceió, AL, Brasil. abstract Introduction: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is considered the 6th most frequent worldwide type of cancer. Epidemiological surveys of cancer are important to understand how its distribution occurs in population, to create public policy of prevention and improvement of reference centers for treatment of this disease. Objective: To analyze the OSCC prevalence in Alagoas and draw the patients’ clinical profile providing guiding data to health professionals according to profile of the lesion. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of 341 medical charts of patients diagnosed with OSCC was performed at reference hospital for cancer treatment in Alagoas. Results: Out of 341 patients analyzed, 217 (63.6%) were men and 124 (36.4%) were women. The mean age for men was 59.86 years and 63.16 years for women. There was a predominance of individuals who did not complete the elementary school (62.8%). The tongue was the most affected by OSCC. The majority of lesion was in clinical stage III. So, the first therapeutic scheme of choice was the association of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Conclusion: Low educational level and poor socioeconomic development rates show that individuals affected by OSCC are probably more vulnerable to etiological agents often related to its occurrence.