title: Healthy life expectancy of oral squamous cell carcinoma patients aged 75years and older.
abstract: Healthy life expectancy, an extension of the concept of life expectancy, is a summary measure of population health that takes into account the mortality and morbidity of a population. The aim of the present study was to retrospectively analyze the self-reliance survival times of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients.
  
  
  
  One hundred and twelve patients aged 75years or older with primary OSCC were included and examined at Shinshu University Hospital. To investigate healthy life expectancy, OSCC patients older than 75years were divided into 3 groups: 75-79, 80-84, and older than 85years. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the median times of healthy life expectancy. The Log-rank test was used to test significant differences between actual curves.
  
  
  
  The median self-reliance survival times of patients aged 75-79, 80-84, and older than 85years were 5.7, 1.6, and 1.4years, respectively. Most patients with early stage cancers underwent curative treatments and showed a health expectancy of more than 5years. In patients with advanced cancers, health expectancy was poor (less than one year), except among patients aged 75-79years who underwent standard treatments.
  
  
  
  It seems that in patients with advanced cancers, health expectancy was poor (less than 1year), except among patients aged 75-79years who underwent standard treatments. In elderly patients, healthy life expectancy (self-reliance survival time) may be one of the measures of patient prognosis as well as overall survival times.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan. Electronic address: yshinshin@shinshu-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Shin-Ichi
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kurita
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomioka
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Ryousuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuhiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yoshimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumihiro
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nishimaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery, Shinshu University School of Medicine, 3-1-1, Asahi, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan.
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kamata
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Life expectancy; Squamous cell carcinoma; Survival time