Comorbidity and survival of elderly head and neck carcinoma patients.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol and tobacco, the primary etiologic agents for head and neck carcinoma (HNCA), cause other chronic diseases and may contribute to the high prevalence of comorbid conditions and generally poor survival of persons with HNCA. METHODS: The authors explored the prognostic role of comorbidity in persons with HNCA using Health Care Finance Administration Medicare (HCFA) files linked with the appropriate files of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program. The Charlson comorbidity index was applied to in-patient data from the HCFA files. The SEER data were used to ascertain survival and identify persons with HNCA diagnosed from 1985 to 1993 (n = 9386). RESULTS: In a proportional hazards regression model adjusted for age and historic stage at diagnosis, race, gender, marital status, socioeconomic status, histologic grade, anatomic site, treatment, and pre-1991 diagnosis, Charlson index scores of 0, 1, and 2+ had estimated relative hazards (RHs) with 95 confidence intervals (CIs) of 1.00, 1.33 (95% CI, 1.21-1.47), and 1.83 (95% CI, 1.64-2.05), respectively (P value for trend < 0.0001). The adjusted RH for a Charlson index score of 1 or more compared with 0, using stratified models, was found to be greater in whites (RH, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.43-1.67) than blacks (RH, 1.24; 95% CI, 0.96-1.60), local (RH, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.50-1.96) versus distant stage (RH, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.00-1.56), and age 65-74 years (RH, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.38-1.69) versus age 85+ years (RH, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.09-1.84). CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes comorbidity as a predictor of survival in an elderly HNCA population and lends support to the inclusion of comorbidity assessment in prognostic staging of patients with HNCA diagnosed after 65 years of age.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists' class as a comorbidity index in a cohort of head and neck cancer surgical patients.

BACKGROUND: We assessed the American Society of Anesthesiologists' (ASA) class, as a measure of comorbidity in comparison to the commonly used Charlson index for prognostic ability in a HNCA population. METHODS: Proportional hazards methods were applied to head and neck cancer patients whose treatment included surgery by the Johns Hopkins Otolaryngology service (n = 388). RESULTS: The Charlson index and ASA class were modestly correlated (Spearman 0.36, p <.001). Compared with patients with ASA class 1 or 2, those with ASA class 3 or 4 had a two-fold elevated mortality rate (Relative Hazard (RH) = 2.00, 95% CI, 1.38-2.89). This association was stronger than observed for a Charlson index score of 1 or more compared with 0 (RH = 1.59, 95% CI, 1.17-2.17). Both the Charlson index and ASA class adjusted RHs displayed dose-response patterns (p value for trend <.001). CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the Charlson index, the ASA class had comparable if not greater prognostic ability for mortality in this elderly HNCA population.

Head and neck in situ carcinoma: incidence, trends, and survival.

This analysis describes the epidemiology of in situ head and neck carcinomas (anatomic sites of lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx) about which there is limited knowledge. Data were derived from nine population-based cancer registries participating in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. SEER annual age-adjusted incidence rates for in situ head and neck carcinomas increased from 6.33/1,000,000 person-years (PY) in 1976 to 8.04/1,000,000 PY in 1995 [percent change (PC)=35%, P<0. 001]. From 1976 to 1995 age-adjusted changes in incidence by anatomic site ranged from 53% PC (larynx) to -11% PC (lip) (both P<0. 005). Incidence and survival associated with in situ head and neck carcinomas varied by anatomic site, age, sex, and race and did so in a pattern similar to that seen for invasive carcinomas of this region. However, the climbing incidence of in situ carcinoma, which may be related to increased surveillance, contrasts sharply with the declining incidence of invasive carcinoma.