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Epidemiology of and factors associated with overall survival for patients with head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma

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Abstract

Background

Updated epidemiologic and survival data of head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma (HNACC) are lacking. This retrospective study aimed to clarify the incidence, prevalence, and overall survival (OS) of patients with HNACC and establish relevant nomogram.

Methods

Trends in incidence, limited-duration prevalence, and relative survival (RS) rates were evaluated using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, and annual percent change (APC) in rates was calculated using joinpoint regression. Data on age, sex, site, stage, and surgery were used in construction and validation of the nomogram.

Results

The study included 6474 patients; 57.7% were female and 78.6% were white. The age-adjusted incidence rates of HNACC decreased significantly from 0.41 to 0.25 per 100,000 [1975–2018; average annual percent change (AAPC): − 1.37, P < 0.001], which was dominated by the localized stage. The 20-year limited duration prevalence increased from 0.00028% to 0.00262%. The 5- and 10-year RS rates of all HNACC patients were 80.0% and 65.5%, respectively. RS rates in HNACC showed a slight increase over time, with APC values of 0.03 for 5-year (P < 0.05) and 0.13 for 10-year (P < 0.05) RS. A prognostic model was constructed. The C-indices for the training and testing sets were both 0.734. The nomogram’s discrimination efficiency was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic curve and had moderate predictive power.

Conclusions

Over the past 40 years, the incidence of HNACC decreased accompanied by slightly improved survival rates. Nomogram was capable of predicting the 5- and 10-year OS rates with moderate accuracy.

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Data availability

These data are available at www.seer.cancer.gov.

Abbreviations

HNACC:

Head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma

ACC:

Adenoid cystic carcinoma

SEER:

Surveillance, epidemiology, and end results

MaSGs:

Major salivary glands

MiSGs:

Minor salivary glands

APC:

Annual percent change

AUC:

Area under the curve

ROC:

Receiver operating curve

SGCs:

Salivary gland cancers

AAPC:

Average annual percent change

RS:

Relative survival

CI:

Confidence interval

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (National Cancer Institute) for developing the SEER database, and Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

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Author notes

  1. Dongjie He and Siying Zhu have contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiation Oncology, Tangdu Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University, Xi’an, China

    Dongjie He, Siying Zhu, Hao Chang, Gaiyan Li, Qiuju Shao, Chao Zhang & Peiwen Wu

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Tangdu Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University, Xi’an, China

    Qianqian Zhao

  3. Department of Radiation Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

    Peiwen Wu

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  1. Dongjie He
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Contributions

DH, SZ, and PW were responsible for the study’s concept and design. QZ, HC, and GL did the data and project management. GL, SZ and QZ did the data cleaning and analysis. DH, CZ, QS, PW, and HC interpreted the data. DH, SZ, and CZ drafted the manuscript. All the authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chao Zhang or Peiwen Wu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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The data analyzed and used in this study was obtained from SEER database in accordance with the SEER data use agreement. Therefore, this study did not require approval of ethical board.

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He, D., Zhu, S., Zhao, Q. et al. Epidemiology of and factors associated with overall survival for patients with head and neck adenoid cystic carcinoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 149, 14071–14080 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-023-05224-w

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