An epidemiological study on survival of oropharyngeal cancer cases in Alexandria, Egypt.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted to determine the 5-year survival and prognostic factors for survival for 407 oropharyngeal cancer cases registered in the 3 main hospitals in Alexandria, Egypt, from 1996-2000. Survival analysis was conducted using Kaplan-Meier curves, and multivariate Cox regression analysis. The overall 5-year survival rate was 30.8%. Multivariate analysis showed that significant prognostic factors for survival were tumour stage (hazard ratio = 2.39; 95% CI: 1.41-11.72), tumour site and patient's age. Secondary prevention of oral cancers can be conducted through examination of the oral cavity to find precancerous and early cancerous lesions and hence improve survival.