title: Clinicopathologic features of oral squamous cell carcinoma: do they vary in different age groups?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze clinicopathologic parameters of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in different age groups. We hypothesized that clinical and pathologic parameters of OSCCs will vary in different age groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study was performed. All patients who were treated for a primary manifestation of OSCC at a single institution from 2001 to 2012 were reviewed and allocated to predefined age groups (predictor variable) as follows: young (≤40 years), middle-aged (40-80 years), and very elderly (≥80 years). The following outcome variables were recorded: demographic parameters, classic risk factors, tumor location and size, neck node involvement, histopathologic and therapeutic details, and association with human papillomavirus (HPV). The descriptive statistics were computed. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used for additional analysis. The significance level was set at P < .05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We reviewed 739 patients and identified 11 (1.4%) young (mean age 34.2 ± 2.8 years) and 17 (2.3%) very elderly patients (mean age 83.1 ± 1.2 years). The predilection site for OSCC was the oral tongue (63%) in young patients, the floor of the mouth (52%) in middle-aged patients, and the alveolar process (60%) in very elderly patients. One patient in the young group (9%) and 8 patients in the very elderly group (47%) had been exposed to risk factors; however, all of the examined middle-aged patients had had such exposure. The association of OSCC with HPV was distributed equally among the age groups. No age-related differences in the histopathologic parameters of OSCC were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The features of OSCC that vary at different ages are the anatomic predilection site and the association with classic risk factors. HPV was not an age-related independent risk factor for OSCC development in the present study.
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: matthias_troeltzsch@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Troeltzsch
authors.affiliation: Consultant, Department of Pathology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Knösel
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Eichinger
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Probst
authors.affiliation: Resident, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Troeltzsch
authors.affiliation: Medical Oncologist, Department of Medicine, Unity Health System and Department of Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Woodlock
authors.affiliation: Consultant, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerson
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mast
authors.affiliation: Professor and Chair, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ehrenfeld
authors.affiliation: Consultant, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otto
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D052685:Alphapapillomavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis