The authors performed a study of 101 cases of epidermoid carcinoma of the mouth registered at a Hospital in the city of Uberaba, from 1999 to 2003. Information on gender, age, skin color, schooling, smoking, alcoholism, prosthesis, site of lesion, disease outcome at the end of follow-up, clinical staging, and origin of referral were obtained from medical records. Statistical analysis was performed using linear correlation, chi-square, t-Student, and Kaplan-Meier tests. The male/female ratio was 3.8:1. The most prevalent age group was 50 to 60 years, with an average age of 58.55 years for men and 54.66 years for women; 88.12% were Caucasian. The most frequent anatomical site was the tongue and 74.48% were stages III and IV. Five-year survival was 38.71%. The low rates of survival and the high percentage of stages III and IV show the need for greater attention to mouth cancer in this population.
Squamous cell carcinoma; Mouth neoplasms; Epidemiology
