Difference in tumor mutation burden between squamous cell carcinoma in the oral cavity and larynx

•We compared tumor mutation burdens (TMBs) between head and neck carcinoma locations.•Cases involved oral cavity or larynx squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC or LSCC).•Patients with LSCC had a significantly higher TMB.•This difference was independent of dataset, age, sex, race, and common risk factors.•Thus, TMB might be useful for guiding immunotherapy for head and neck carcinomas. This study aimed to evaluate the difference in tumor mutation burden (TMB) between oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) and larynx squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). Patients with OCSCC or LSCC were identified from datasets within The Cancer Genome Atlas. Somatic mutations and clinical information were included in the analysis. A Poisson regression model was used to evaluate the association of TMB with the primary cancer sites. We identified 5 datasets that included 396 OCSCC patients and 143 LSCC patients. Patients with LSCC had a significantly higher TMB than patients with OCSCC (crude risk ratio: 0.60, 95% confidence interval: 0.51–0.70, P