Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Trends of Ten Leading Causes of Death in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

  • Published:
Current Medical Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

An understanding of the leading causes of death in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) would be helpful to inform doctors, patients, and healthcare providers on disease management. This study aimed to comprehensively study the leading causes of death in these survivors.

Methods

We investigated the trends of risk factors for major causes of death in patients with HNSCC. Causes of death in HNSCC were obtained from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registries. We characterized trends in the 5-year cumulative mortality as well as risk factors associated with the ten leading causes of death.

Results

Among 48 297 deaths identified, the ten leading causes were as follows: HNSCC, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cerebrovascular disease, pneumonia & influenza, accidents & adverse effects, esophagus cancer, chronic liver diseases, and septicemia. Non-HNSCC deaths surpassed HNSCC deaths 4 years after cancer diagnosis. There was a significant decline in the 5-year cumulative mortality from HNSCC, heart disease, lung cancer, COPD, cerebrovascular disease, and esophagus cancer. The risks of mortality from the ten leading causes varied with patient characteristics.

Conclusion

Our findings provide a useful picture of mortality patterns in HNSCC survivors, which might help when planning personalized HNSCC care.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Edwards BK, Noone NA, Mariotto AB, et al. Annual Report to the Nation on the status of cancer, 1975–2010, featuring prevalence of comorbidity and impact on survival among persons with lung, colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer. Cancer, 2014,120(9):1290–1314

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Pulte D, Brenner H. Changes in survival in head and neck cancers in the late 20th and early 21st century: a period analysis. Oncologist, 2010,15(9):994–1001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cohen EE, LaMonte SJ, Erb NL, et al. American Cancer Society Head and Neck Cancer Survivorship Care Guideline. CA Cancer J Clin, 2016,66(3):203–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ryu CH, Roh JL, Kim SB, et al. Risk factors for non-cancer health events in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Ann Oncol, 2013,24(4):1049–1054

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. van der Schroeff MP, van de Schans SAM, Piccirillo JF, et al. Conditional relative survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Permanent excess mortality risk for long-term survivors. Head Neck, 2010,32(12): 1613–1618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Fuller CD, Wang SJ, Thomas CR Jr, et al. Conditional survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: results from the SEER dataset 1973–1998. Cancer, 2007,109(7):1331–1343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Bouillon K, Haddy N, Delaloge S, et al. Long-term cardiovascular mortality after radiotherapy for breast cancer. J Am Coll Cardiol, 2011,57(4):445–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Baxi SS, Pinheiro LC, Patil SM, et al. Causes of death in long-term survivors of head and neck cancer. Cancer, 2014,120(10):1507–1513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. van Monsjou HS, Schaapveld M, Hamming-Vrieze O, et al. Cause-specific excess mortality in patients treated for cancer of the oral cavity and oropharynx: A population-based study. Oral Oncol, 2016,52:37–44

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program (https://www.seer.cancer.gov) Research Data (1975-2016), National Cancer Institute, DCCPS, Surveillance Research Program, released April 2019, based on the November 2018 submission. Accessed 20 Dec 2019.

  11. National Comprehensive Cancer Network, Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), Head and Neck Cancers. Version 1.2020 — February 12, 2020. https://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/pdf/head-and-neck.pdf (Accessed March 10, 2020).

  12. Sturgeon KM, Deng L, Bluethmann SM, et al. A population-based study of cardiovascular disease mortality risk in US cancer patients. Eur Heart J, 2019,40(48):3889–3897

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Jason PF, Gray GR. A Proportional Hazards Model for the Subdistribution of a Competing Risk. J Am Stat Assoc, 2012,94,1999:496–509

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jiang B, Wang WZ, Chen H, et al. Incidence and trends of stroke and its subtypes in China: results from three large cities. Stroke, 2006,37(1):63–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Bauer UE, Briss PA, Goodman RA, et al. Prevention of chronic disease in the 21st century: elimination of the leading preventable causes of premature death and disability in the USA. Lancet, 2014,384(9937):45–52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Havranek EP, Mujahid MS, Barr DA, et al. Social Determinants of Risk and Outcomes for Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation, 2015,132(9):873–898

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Zaorsky NG, Churilla TM, Egleston BL, et al. Causes of death among cancer patients. Ann Oncol, 2017,28(2):400–407

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Bigelow EO, Blackford AL, Eytan DF, et al. Burden of comorbidities is higher among elderly survivors of oropharyngeal cancer compared with controls. Cancer, 2020,126(8):1793–1803

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Lee M, Kowdley KV. Alcohol’s effect on other chronic liver diseases. Clin Liver Dis, 2012,16(4):827–837

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Florou AN, Gkiozos IC, Tsagouli SK, et al. Clinical significance of smoking cessation in subjects with cancer: a 30-year review. Respir Care, 2014,59(12):1924–1936

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Tabuchi T, Goto A, Ito Y, et al. Smoking at the time of diagnosis and mortality in cancer patients: What benefit does the quitter gain? Int J Cancer, 2017,140(8):1789–1795

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Vander Ark WD, DiNardo LJ, Oliver DS. Factors affecting smoking cessation in patients with head and neck cancer. Laryngoscope, 1997,107(7):888–892

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Duffy SA, Ronis DL, Valenstein M, et al. A tailored smoking, alcohol, and depression intervention for head and neck cancer patients. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev, 2006,15(11):2203–220822

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Breslow RA, Chen CM, Graubard BI, et al. Prospective study of alcohol consumption quantity and frequency and cancer-specific mortality in the US population. Am J Epidemiol. 2011,174(9):1044–1053

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Cai S, Li Y, Ding Y, et al. Alcohol drinking and the risk of colorectal cancer death: a meta-analysis. Eur J Cancer Prev, 2014,23(6):532–539

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Deaths by influenza and pneumonia in the U.S. from 1950 to 2017. https://www.statista.com/statistics/184574/deaths-by-influenza-and-pneumonia-in-the-us-since-1950/). Release date October, 2019.

  27. Goldstein E, Lipsitch M. The relation between prescribing of different antibiotics and rates of mortality with sepsis in US adults. BMC Infect Dis, 2020,20(1):169

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Mirabile A, Numico G, Russi EG, et al. Sepsis in head and neck cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and radiation: Literature review and consensus. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol, 2015,95(2):191–213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Zhang Y, Wang R, Miao L, et al. Different levels in alcohol and tobacco consumption in head and neck cancer patients from 1957 to 2013. PLoS One, 2015,10(4):e0124045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Sturgis EM, Cinciripini PM. Trends in head and neck cancer incidence in relation to smoking prevalence: an emerging epidemic of human papillomavirus-associated cancers? Cancer, 2007,110(7):1429–1435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. You EL, Henry M, Zeitouni AG. Human Papillomavirus-Associated Oropharyngeal Cancer: Review of Current Evidence and Management. Curr Oncol, 2019,26(2): 119–123

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Heron M. Deaths: Leading Causes for 2016. Natl Vital Stat Rep, 2018,67(6):1–77

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. The authors contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China

    Wen-hui Liu, Mei-ting Sun, De-heng Nie & Fu-jun Han

  2. College of Computer Science and Technology, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China

    Yi-nan Lu

Authors
  1. Wen-hui Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yi-nan Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mei-ting Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. De-heng Nie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fu-jun Han
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fu-jun Han.

Ethics declarations

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

This work was funded by the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81673090), Natural Science Foundation of Science and Technology Agency of Jilin Province (Bethune special foundation) (No. 20200201603JC), Science and Technology Foundation from the Department of Education of Jilin Province during the “13th Five-Year Plan” (No. JJKH20190022KJ), Innovative Interdisciplinary Program of The First Hospital of Jilin University (No. JDYYJC009).

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liu, Wh., Lu, Yn., Sun, Mt. et al. Trends of Ten Leading Causes of Death in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. CURR MED SCI 42, 118–128 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-021-2427-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-021-2427-x

Key words

Search

Navigation