Background: Our objective was to determine the survival rate of patients with oral cancer who were treated at a medical center in central Taiwan. Furthermore, we attempted to investigate whether nutritional factors influence the survival.
Methods: We carried out a retrospective review of 1010 chart records of patients with oral cancer. We used the Kaplan-Meier method for survival analysis and the Cox proportional hazard models to investigate the prognosticators.
Results: Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed an overall 5-year survival rate of 63.24%. The Cox proportional hazard model revealed that those with a preoperative body mass index (BMI) of <22.8 kg/m(2) tended to have a higher probability of death (relative risk [RR] = 1.292, p = .022). In addition, those with a preoperative serum albumin level of <4.15 g/dL were generally associated with a poorer prognosis (RR = 1.313, p = .016).
Conclusions: Apart from clinical features, nutritional factors also had a significant influence on the survival of patients with oral cancer. Therefore, good nutritional status is crucial for patients with oral cancer in improving their survival.