The Copenhagen Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma database: protocol and report on establishing a comprehensive oral cavity cancer database

Abstract

Objective: The aim was to establish a large comprehensive database of patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) to enable surveillance and research of the disease.

Methods: All patients diagnosed and/or treated for OSCC at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark in the period 2000-2014 were included. Rigshospitalet is a tertiary treatment center and covers the Eastern Denmark region, comprising nearly half of the approximately 5.8 million inhabitants of Denmark. Data on numerous variables regarding general information of the patients at diagnosis, their primary cancer, recurrence, treatment, prior cancers, and secondary cancers were collected from the Danish Pathology Register and by evaluation of medical charts.

Results: One thousand three hundred and ninety-nine OSCC patients were included in the database (62% males). The median age at diagnosis was 63 years (range: 23-99 years). The most common anatomical location was the floor of mouth (38%). Among patients with known stage, 70.0% were diagnosed in T-stage 1 or 2 and 64.9% were diagnosed in N-stage 0. Most patients were treated with primary surgery (81.7% among patients with known treatment), of these 44% received adjuvant radiotherapy after surgery. The overall age-standardized incidence of OSCC per 100,000 increased from 2.15 in 2000 to 3.04 in 2014, with a significant annual percent change of 3.2%.

Conclusion: We have established a consecutive, population-based database of 1,399 OSCC patients. This creates a basis for multiple studies that will elaborate our understanding of OSCC, and hopefully improve diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of OSCC patients.

Keywords: OSCC; database; epidemiology; head and neck cancer; oral cavity cancer; squamous cell carcinoma.

Conflict of interest statement

Professor Lena Specht reports non-financial support from Merck Serono (participation in international scientific conferences), personal fees from MSD and Kyowa Kirin, personal fees and non-financial support from Takeda, and grants from Varian, outside the submitted work. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

© 2019 Schmidt Jensen et al.

Figures

Figure 1

Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIR) for patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma diagnosed or treated at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in the period 2000–2014, stratified by sex (A) and anatomical sublocation (B).

Figure 2

Age-period-cohort model for patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma diagnosed or treated at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, in the period 2000–2014. Panel A, B, and C show the age effect, the cohort effect, and the period effect separately. LCI: Lower confidence interval, UCI: Upper confidence interval.