Life expectancy and expected years of life lost to oral cancer in Taiwan: A nation-wide analysis of 22,024 cases followed for 10 years

Objectives: This analysis examined the life expectancies (LE) and expected years of life lost (EYLL) in relation to oral cancer in Taiwan. Materials and methods: A semi-parametric extrapolation method was applied to estimate gender, age, histology, subsite, and stage stratified LE, EYLL of 22,024 pathologically verified oral cancer patients retrospectively recruited from the National Cancer Registry of Taiwan during 2002-2009, who were followed up to 2011. Results: The patients were predominantly male 20,101, (91.3%), and over 80% were less than 65 years old. The mean age at diagnosis of males was younger than that of females (52.73 years vs. 60.76 years). The LE after diagnosis was longer among females than males (15.26 years vs. 12.73 years), with a smaller loss of the corresponding EYLL (8.88 years vs. 14.05 years), which prevails after stratification by age and stage. More than half of the oral cancer cases were diagnosed at a later stage, with 2921 cases (13.3%) of stage III and 8488 (38.5%) of stage IV. The five-year overall survival rate of oral cancer for stages I, II, III, and IV were 78.98%, 69.38%, 54.62%, and 36.17%, respectively. The earlier the diagnosis, the longer the life expectancy and the smaller the EYLL. Conclusions: We concluded that early detection and early intervention of oral cancer can prolong life expectancy and reduce the years of life lost, indicating the importance of proactive screening and oral hygiene.