Oral squamous cell carcinoma in patients less than 40 years in a Nigerian population.

Ahmed Oluwatoyin LAWAL; Akinyele Olumuyiwa ADISA; Olajumoke Ajibola Effiom

Ahmed Oluwatoyin LAWAL College of Medicine University of ibadan
Akinyele Olumuyiwa ADISA College of Medicine University of Ibadan
Olajumoke Ajibola Effiom 2. Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology & Biology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Oral cancer ranks amongst the sixth to eight most common cancer worldwide and exhibits a great variation in incidence among countries. Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are rare in individuals less than 40 years of age, with occurrences averaging 4-6% in people less than 40 years. The aim of this study was to review OSCC cases in patients less than 40 years of age in five tertiary health facilities in Nigeria.

Methods: All OSCC in the period from 1970 – 2015 from case file records and biopsy reports were retrieved from the records of the five Teaching Hospitals, to obtain age, gender, location and histologic grades. The data was entered into and analyzed with the SPSS software version 20.

Results: 111 (17.3%) cases of OSCC were diagnosed in patients less than 40 years of age. These included 70 males and 41 females giving a male: female ratio of 1.7:1. The mandibular mucosa with 27 (24.3%) cases was the most common site followed by the maxilla and antrum with 24 (21.6%) and 11 (9.9%) cases respectively. Only 5 (4.5%) cases of OSCC occurred in the tongue. The well differentiated OSCC was the most common histological grade accounting for 53 (47.2%) cases while the moderately differentiated and poorly differentiated OSCC accounted for 36 (32.4%) and 31 (18.9%) cases respectively

Conclusion: OSCC was relatively more common in people less than 40 years of age in this study than those of other regions and OSCC in patients less than 40 years of age was relatively rare in the tongue when compared with similar cohorts from other continents.