Current-Smoking-Related COPD or COPD With Acute Exacerbation is Associated With Poorer Survival Following Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma Surgery.

Background: The survival effect of smoking-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and COPD with acute exacerbation (COPDAE) before surgery on patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) is unclear.

Methods: Using the Taiwan Cancer Registry Database, we enrolled patients with OCSCC (pathologic stages I-IVB) receiving surgery. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze all-cause mortality. We categorized the patients into 2 groups by using propensity score matching based on the pre-existing COPD status (≤1 year before surgery) to compare overall survival outcomes: Group 1 (never smokers without COPD) and Group 2 (current smokers with COPD).

Results: In multivariate Cox regression analyses, the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR; 95% confidence interval [CI]) of all-cause mortality in Group 2 compared with Group 1 was 1.07 (1.02-1.16, = 0.041). The aHR (95% CIs) of all-cause mortality for ≥1 hospitalizations for COPDAE within 1 year before surgery for patients with OCSCC was 1.31 (1.02-1.64; = 0.011) compared with no COPDAE in patients with OCSCC receiving surgery. Among patients with OCSCC undergoing curative surgery, current smokers with smoking-related COPD demonstrated poorer survival outcomes than did nonsmokers without COPD, for both OCSCC death and all-cause mortality. Hospitalization for COPDAE within 1 year before surgery was found to be an independent risk factor for overall survival in these patients with OCSCC.

Conclusion: Prevention of COPD progression to COPDAE may lead to an increase in overall survival in patients with OCSCC receiving curative surgery.