Comparison of tobacco and alcohol consumption in young and older patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To compare the proportion of young (up to 45 years of age) and older (over 45 years of age) oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients who report tobacco and alcohol consumption. Methods Observational studies reporting tobacco and alcohol consumption among young and older OSCC patients were selected in a two-phase process. Search strategies were conducted on five main electronic databases and complemented by grey literature. The risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute's Critical Appraisal Checklist for Studies Reporting Prevalence Data. Synthesis of results was calculated with the software R Statistics version 4.0.2 (The R Foundation). Results From 6675 records identified, 38 studies met the eligibility criteria and were selected for qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis, encompassing 2439 young and 13,393 older patients. Tobacco smoking was reported by 39.5% (confidence interval (CI) = 31.7% to 47.9%, I 2 = 78%) of the young patients and 48.4% (CI = 37.8% to 59.2%, I 2 = 94%) of the older patients. Alcohol consumption was reported by 30.9% (CI = 22.7% to 40.5%, I 2 = 83%) of the young and 45.8% (CI = 35.6% to 56.5%, I 2 = 95%) of the older patients ( P < 0.05). Conclusion The comparison in the proportion of individuals reporting tobacco and alcohol consumption demonstrated that these habits were more prevalent in the older group (48.4% and 45.8% respectively) than in the young group (39.5% and 30.9%, respectively). Clinical relevance As a significant proportion of patients with OSCC reported no habits, novel risk factors for OSCC need to be investigated in further research.