Epidemiological Profile of Patients with Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Treated at a Referral Hospital, Salvador, Brazil

ABSTRACT

Objective: To describe the epidemiological profile of patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer treated at a referral hospital in Salvador, Brazil. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Aristides Maltez Hospital (HAM), analyzing the medical records of patients treated between 2008 and 2015. Of the 722 medical records analyzed, 154 were included, considering the following variables gender, age, occupation and educational level; type of lesion of the mouth/oropharynx cancer, its location and stage. The data were presented using descriptive statistics. Results: There was a greater occurrence of squamous cell carcinoma (88.3%), with a higher prevalence for males (72.73) and age between 60-69 years (42%), with a predominance of farmers (38.31%). As for the educational level, 59% had only completed elementary school. The most common location for cancer was the tongue, 25.15% of the cases, and the professional responsible for the diagnosis was predominantly a doctor (94%). Prevalence of T3 and T4 size tumors (53.25%). Conclusion: Patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer are mostly male, older than 60 years, with low educational level, and working as farmers. The most common location was the tongue, and T3 and T4 tumors were predominant.