Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun;43(6):1881-1889.
doi: 10.1002/hed.26666. Epub 2021 Mar 3.

A cause-specific Cox model for second primary tumors in patients with head and neck cancer: A RONCDOC study

Oisín Bugter  1 , Dirk L P van Iwaarden  1 , Nikki van Leeuwen  2 , Daan Nieboer  2 , Emilie A C Dronkers  1 , José A U Hardillo  1 , Robert J Baatenburg de Jong  1
Affiliations

A cause-specific Cox model for second primary tumors in patients with head and neck cancer: A RONCDOC study

Oisín Bugter et al. Head Neck. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to identify risk factors for the development of second primary tumors (SPTs) in the head and neck region, lungs, and esophagus in patients with head and neck cancer.

Methods: We collected data from 1581 patients. A cause-specific Cox model for the development of an SPT was fitted, accounting for the competing risks residual/recurrent tumor and mortality.

Results: Of all patients, 246 (15.6%) developed SPTs. Analysis showed that tobacco and alcohol use, comorbidity, and the oral cavity subsite were risk factors for SPTs. The C-index, the discriminative accuracy, of the model for SPT was 0.65 (95% confidence interval, 0.61-0.68).

Conclusions: Our results show that there is potential to identify patients who have an increased risk to develop an SPT. This might increase their survival chances and quality of life. More research is needed to provide head and neck clinicians with definitive recommendations.

Keywords: head and neck cancer; prediction model; risk factor; second primary tumor; upper aerodigestive tract.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Nederlandse Kankerregistratie, beheerd door IKNL (Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organization). June 2018. https://www.cijfersoverkanker.nl
    1. Priante AV, Castilho EC, Kowalski LP. Second primary tumors in patients with head and neck cancer. Curr Oncol Rep. 2011;13(2):132‐137. - PubMed
    1. McGurk M, Chan C, Jones J, O'Regan E, Sherriff M. Delay in diagnosis and its effect on outcome in head and neck cancer. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2005;43(4):281‐284. - PubMed
    1. Seiwert TY, Cohen EE. State‐of‐the‐art management of locally advanced head and neck cancer. Br J Cancer. 2005;92(8):1341‐1348. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Warren S, Gates O. Mutiple primary malignant tumors: a survey of the literature and a statistical study. American J Cancer. 1932;16:1358‐1141.

MeSH terms