Abstract: Objective: To analyze the risk and risk factors of oral mucositis (OM) in 215 oral cancer patients who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: A total of 215 oral cancer patients who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and treated in the Department of Stomatology of our hospital from January 2020 to January 2023 were selected as the research subjects. According to whether OM occurred after the end of chemotherapy, they were divided into the OM occurrence group and the non-OM occurrence group. The clinical data of the two groups of patients were collected and compared. The influencing factors related to the occurrence of OM in patients were screened, and a nomogram prediction model was drawn. The calibration curve and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) were plotted to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of the nomogram model in predicting OM in oral cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Results: Among the enrolled patients, there were 131 males and 84 females, with an age range of 52 to 77 years, and an average age of (64.57±7.04) years. OM occurred in 89 patients, with an incidence rate of 41.4%. Univariate analysis and logistic regression analysis screened out a history of alcohol consumption (OR=12.302, 95%CI: 1.836-82.441), the long diameter of the tumor (OR=2.092, 95%CI: 1.221-3.584), the operation time (OR=1.018, 95%CI: 1.005-1.031), the intraoperative blood loss (OR=1.012, 95%CI: 1.002-1.022), the fluorouracil-containing regimen (OR=6.450, 95%CI: 1.266-32.858), 6 cycles of chemotherapy (OR=1.056, 95%CI: 1.002-1.112), and serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) before chemotherapy (OR=1.143, 95%CI: 1.074-1.217) as independent risk factors for the occurrence of OM in oral cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. Serum albumin (ALB) (OR=0.922, 95%CI: 0.865-0.983) and pre-albumin (PA) (OR=0.985, 95%CI: 0.973-0.997) before chemotherapy were independent protective factors for the occurrence of OM in oral cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy. The calibration curve showed that the nomogram model had a high goodness of fit (χ²=4.999, P=0.758). The ROC analysis demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) of this model in predicting the occurrence of OM in oral cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy was 0.832 (95%CI:0.777-0.887), which was significantly higher than the independent prediction effectiveness of each factor. Conclusion: A history of alcohol consumption, tumor long diameter, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, chemotherapy regimen and duration, as well as serum ALB, PA, and IL-6 before chemotherapy are influencing factors for the occurrence of OM in oral cancer patients receiving postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.

Key words: oral cancer, chemotherapy, oral mucositis, risk factors