Prognostic effect of tobacco and alcohol use in patients with oral tongue cancer.

A retrospective case analysis shows that patients with oral tongue cancer who have chronically used tobacco and alcohol have an increased incidence of death due to tumor, due to a second primary cancer, and due to intercurrent disease when compared with patients with oral tongue cancer who have never used tobacco or alcohol. This difference is not explained by a difference in tumor staging, patients' ages, or type of treatment received.