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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Apr;10(8):2566-2578.
doi: 10.1002/cam4.3795. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prognostic role of age in oral tongue cancer

Marta Tagliabue  1 , Pietro Belloni  2   3 , Rita De Berardinis  1 , Sara Gandini  2 , Francesco Chu  1 , Stefano Zorzi  1 , Caterina Fumagalli  4 , Luigi Santoro  5 , Susanna Chiocca  2 , Mohssen Ansarin  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article
Meta-Analysis

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prognostic role of age in oral tongue cancer

Marta Tagliabue et al. Cancer Med. 2021 Apr.
Free PMC article

Abstract

While evidence suggests an increasing incidence of tongue cancer in young adults, published findings regarding the prognostic role of age at diagnosis are inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis of the literature to highlight key points that might help in understanding the association between age of oral tongue cancer patients at diagnosis and their prognosis. According to age at diagnosis, a systematic literature review of all published cohort studies assessing the recurrence risks and mortality associated with tongue cancer was conducted. We compared the risk estimates between patients aged >45 years and those aged <45 years at diagnosis. Random-effects models were used to calculate summary relative risk estimates (SRRs) according to different clinical outcomes and sources of between-study heterogeneity (I2 ) and bias. We included 31 independent cohort studies published between 1989 and 2019; these studies included a total of 28,288 patients. When risk estimations were not adjusted for confounders, no significant association was found between age at diagnosis and overall survival (OS). Conversely, after adjustment for confounders, older age at diagnosis was associated with a significantly increased risk of mortality. The difference between SRRs for adjusted and unadjusted estimates was significant (p < 0.01). Younger patients had a significantly higher risk of local recurrence. Younger patients with oral tongue cancer have better OS but a greater risk of recurrence than older patients. These findings should be validated in a large prospective cohort study which considers all confounders and prognostic factors.

Keywords: age; meta-analysis; oral cavity cancer; survival; tongue cancer; young adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

Nothing to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
PRISMA flow chart.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Overall survival for older versus younger OTSCC patients.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Disease‐specific free survival for older versus younger OTSCC patients.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Disease‐free survival for older versus younger OTSCC patients.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
(A) Local recurrence for older versus younger OTSCC patients. (B) Regional recurrence for older versus younger OTSCC patients. (C) Distant recurrence for older versus younger OTSCC patients.
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