In addition, an expert interview was conducted to revise the
oral cancer variables used in the present study. The experts
included a professor of public health and clinical medicine, a
director of the department of dentistry and maxillofacial surgery
at a regional teaching hospital, and an attending surgeon
of the department of maxillofacial surgery at a medical center.
The content of the interview was centered on key prognostic
factors that affect the survival rate of oral cancer patients and
the recurrence and metastasis of oral cancer. The results of the
interview were compiled and used as a basis for selecting oral
cancer variables. The selected variables are shown in Table 1.
To achieve the objective of the present study, the survival rate
of oral cancer patients following diagnosis and treatment and
posttreatment cancer recurrence were adopted as the dependent
variables.