SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oral Health
Sec. Oral Cancers
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1673474
Malignant transformation rate of oral precancerous disorders to oral cancer: Systematic review and meta-analysis of the current evidence
Provisionally accepted
Maryam Khodadadi1*
Mohammadmehdi Khodadadi2- 1Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
- 2Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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Background: Oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) are precancerous conditions that may eventually turn into oral cancer (OC). The aim of present study was to reassess the data associated with OPMDs and its malignant transformation rate into oral cancer. Methods: A comprehensive search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Embase and Web of Science (WoS) to evoke studies reporting the OPMDs on the risk of OC up to July 10, 2025. A summary odds ratio (SOR) was used for the analysis of data. To explore the heterogeneity, subgroup analyses and meta-regression analyses was used. The certainty of evidence was rated using the GRADE protocol. Results: Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria for this study. The meta-analysis showed an elevated risk of OC by overall OPMDs (SOR= 2.5 (95% CI 2.43-2.58). The highest the risk of OC in OPMDs were leukoplakia (SOR= 3.35 (95% CI 3.21-3.50), erythroplakia (SOR= 3.3 (95% CI 3.21-3.50), oral epithelial dysplasia (SOR= 1.41 (95% CI 1.20-1.73) and oral submucosa fibrosis (SOR= 2.9 (95% CI 2.70 - 3.12). Subgroup and meta-regression analyses demonstrated a significant positive association between the development risk of OC with age and duration of follow up. Conclusions: This study suggests a significant association between OPMDs and OC. Age and duration of follow up may modify this association. Due to potentially malignant nature to oral cancer, this study provides insight into the malignant transformation rate to oral cancer for researchers, dentists, and clinicians for efficient control in general population.
Keywords: OPMDs, oral cancer, malignant, Systematic review, Meta-analysis
Received: 25 Jul 2025; Accepted: 04 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Khodadadi and Khodadadi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Maryam Khodadadi, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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