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Epidemiological characteristics of a Spanish cohort of patients diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck: distribution of risk factors by tumor location

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Abstract

Purpose

Head and neck cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease comprising a large number of tumors located in the cervicofacial area. This study aimed to determine the epidemiological characteristics of squamous-cell carcinomas of the head and neck in the Spanish population, and the distribution of risk factors based on tumor locations.

Methods/patients

A cohort of 459 patients (75 oral cavity, 167 oro-/hypopharyngeal and 217 laryngeal cancers) recruited in 19 hospitals participating in the Spanish head and neck cancer cooperative group were included over 3 years (2012–2014). Epidemiological parameters and risk factors were obtained from a self-administered questionnaire, and tumor characteristics were obtained from clinical records. Multivariate multinomial logistic regression was used to assess factors associated with tumor location.

Results

Most patients were males (88.4 %), smokers (95 %) and drinkers (76.5 %). Relative to laryngeal cancer, pharyngeal cancer and oral cancer were more common in women than men (OR 3.58, p = 0.003 and 4.33, p = 0.001, respectively); pharyngeal cancer was more associated with rural environment (OR 1.81, p = 0.007) and weekly alcohol intake (10–140 g: OR 2.53, p = 0.012; 141–280 g: OR 2.47, p = 0.023; >280 g: OR 3.20, p = 0.001) and less associated with pack-years of smoking (21–40 packs: OR 0.46, p = 0.045; 41–70 packs: OR 0.43, p = 0.023; ≥71 packs: OR 3.20, p = 0.015).

Conclusions

The distribution of these tumors differs between the sexes, with a higher proportion of oral cavity and pharyngeal tumors in women than in men. Oro-/hypopharyngeal cancers were more strongly associated with rural areas and with alcohol consumption, although less strongly associated with smoking than laryngeal tumors.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Health Research Program (PI11/00519: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and FEDER Funding Program from the European Union) and the Health Council of Castilla y León (GRS630/A/11: Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León). R. Seijas-Tamayo was partially supported by a Río Hortega (CM10/0006, ISCIII). J. Fernández-Mateos was partially supported by a predoctoral research grant from the Consejería de Educación—Junta de Castilla y León and the European Social Fund to CC-B (EDU/1084/2012). The authors thank Rogelio González-Sarmiento for the revision of the manuscript. In addition, the authors are grateful to all the patients who consented to take part in this study and all their colleagues who have participated in this study but who are not included in the list of authors (in alphabetical order): D. Almenar Cubells, R. Álvarez Cabellos, B. Castelo Fernández, O.S. Gallego Rubio, J.A. García Sáenz, M.B. González Grajera, J. Fuster Salva, A. Hurtado Nuño, J. Lambea Sorrosal, A. López Alfonso, M.I. Ruiz Martín, M. Rusiecka.

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Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Medical Oncology Service, University Hospital of Salamanca-IBSAL, Paseo de San Vicente 58-182, 37007, Salamanca, Spain

      R. Seijas-Tamayo, J. Fernández-Mateos, J. C. Adansa Klain, E. del Barco Morillo & J. J. Cruz-Hernández

    2. Medical Oncology Department, Universitat de Barcelona, IDIBELL, Institut Català d’Oncologia, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

      R. Mesía, S. Vázquez Fernández & M. Taberna

    3. Medical Oncology Service, Hospital Universitario Politécnico La Fe, Valencia, Spain

      M. Pastor Borgoñón & C. Salvador Coloma

    4. Medical Oncology Department, Hospital Costa del Sol, Marbella, Spain

      E. Pérez-Ruiz & A. Rueda Domínguez

    5. Medical Oncology Unit, Hospital Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain

      J. Martínez-Trufero

    6. Medical Oncology Unit, Hospital Parc Tauli, Institut Universitari Fundació Parc Taulí, Sabadell, Spain

      T. Bonfill Abella

    7. Medical Oncology Service, Hospital Universitario Lucus Augusti, Lugo, Spain

      S. Vázquez Estévez

    8. Cancer and Environmental Epidemiology Unit, National Center for Epidemiology, Carlos III Institute of Health, Madrid, Spain

      M. Pollán

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    1. R. Seijas-Tamayo
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    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to J. J. Cruz-Hernández.

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    Conflict of interest

    The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

    Ethical standards

    All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committees and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

    Informed consent

    Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

    Additional information

    E. del Barco Morillo and J. J. Cruz-Hernández have contributed equally to this work.

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    Seijas-Tamayo, R., Fernández-Mateos, J., Adansa Klain, J.C. et al. Epidemiological characteristics of a Spanish cohort of patients diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck: distribution of risk factors by tumor location. Clin Transl Oncol 18, 1114–1122 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-016-1493-1

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