Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population.
| Characteristic | Category | Radiation-induced oral mucositis |
t/χ2/H | P | Total n = 144 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 1&2 n = 122 | Grade 3 n = 22 | |||||
| Age | 50.1 ± 14.2 | 53.2 ± 14.5 | −0.811 | 0.419 | 56.9 ± 14.1 | |
| Sex | Male | 80 (65.6%) | 15 (68.2%) | 0.056 | 0.812 | 95 (66.0%) |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 23.1 ± 3.2 | 22.7 ± 3.1 | 0.415 | 0.679 | 23.1 ± 3.2 | |
| Diabetes mellitus | With | 9 (7.4%) | 2 (9.1%) | 0.078 | 0.781 | 11 (7.6%) |
| Hypertension | With | 19 (15.6%) | 3 (13.6%) | 0.054 | 0.816 | 22 (15.3%) |
| Smoking history | With | 34 (27.9%) | 8 (36.4%) | 0.651 | 0.420 | 42 (29.2%) |
| Alcohol history | With | 22 (18.0%) | 7 (31.8%) | 2.202 | 0.138 | 29 (20.1%) |
| Primary cancer location | Oral | 29 (23.8%) | 12 (54.5%) | 8.668 | 0.003 | 41 (28.5%) |
| Non-orala | 93 (76.2%) | 10 (45.5%) | 103 (71.5%) | |||
| Staging, n (%) | Ⅰ | 7 (5.7%) | 0 (0.0%) | 7.339 | 0.062 | 7 (4.9%) |
| Ⅱ | 15 (12.3%) | 2 (9.1%) | 17 (11.8%) | |||
| Ⅲ | 17 (13.9%) | 8 (36.4%) | 25 (17.4%) | |||
| Ⅳ | 83 (68.0%) | 12 (54.5%) | 95 (66.0%) | |||
| Surgery | With | 57 (46.7%) | 14 (63.6%) | 2.134 | 0.144 | 71 (49.3%) |
| Total radiation dose (Gy) | 67.1 ± 6.0 | 65.5 ± 5.4 | 1.047 | 0.297 | 66.5 ± 6.7 | |
| Single radiation dose (Gy) | 2.1 ± 0.1 | 2.1 ± 0.1 | 0.545 | 0.587 | 2.1 ± 0.1 | |
| Concomitant treatment | Radiotherapy only | 50 (41.0%) | 6 (27.3%) | 1.474 | 0.225 | 56 (38.9%) |
| Concurrent chemoradiotherapy | 72 (59.0%) | 16 (72.7%) | 88 (61.1%) | |||
| Number of teeth extracted | 0 (0,1) | 0 (0,1.25) | 1.240 | 0.266 | 0 (0,1) | |
| Scaling | 81 (66.4%) | 17 (77.3%) | 1.015 | 0.314 | 98 (68.1%) | |
| Red blood cell count (10˄9/L) | 4.4 ± 0.5 | 4.5 ± 0.6 | −1.312 | 0.192 | 4.4 ± 0.5 | |
| Hemoglobin (g/L) | 131.0 ± 17.5 | 134.2 ± 18.4 | −0.751 | 0.454 | 131.5 ± 17.6 | |
| NLR | 3.3 ± 2.8 | 2.7 ± 1.3 | 1.043 | 0.299 | 3.2 ± 2.6 | |
| NLR>5 | 19 (15.6%) | 0 (0%) | 4.122 | 0.047 | 19 (13.2%) | |
| Creatinine (μmol/L) | 64.4 ± 15.2 | 60.2 ± 12.8 | 1.093 | 0.277 | 63.7 ± 14.9 | |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; NLR, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio.
a
Non-oral cancer included nasopharyngeal carcinoma, nasal cavity cancer, paranasal sinus cancer, oropharyngeal carcinoma, hypopharyngeal carcinoma, salivary gland tumor, skin cancer, external auditory canal carcinoma.