Comparison of Treatment Patterns and Clinical Outcomes by Gender in Locally Advanced Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (KCSG HN13-01)

• Published in: Cancers Vol. 15; no. 2; p. 471
• Main Authors: Lee, Yun-Gyoo, Kang, Eun Joo, Keam, Bhumsuk, Choi, Jin-Hyuk, Kim, Jin-Soo, Park, Keon Uk, Lee, Kyoung Eun, Lee, Keun-Wook, Kim, Min Kyoung, Ahn, Hee Kyung, Shin, Seong Hoon, Kim, Hye Ryun, Kim, Sung-Bae, Kim, Hyo Jung, Yun, Hwan Jung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 12-01-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Cancer therapies; Chemotherapy; Clinical outcomes; Clinical trials; Gender; Gender differences; Head & neck cancer; Head and neck carcinoma; Hospitals; Human papillomavirus; Medical prognosis; Patients; Population; Population studies; Radiation; Sex; Sexes; Squamous cell carcinoma; Surgery; Tumors; Women; gender; clinical outcome; locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
• ISSN: 2072-6694; 2072-6694
• DOI: 10.3390/cancers15020471

We aimed to compare treatment modalities and outcomes by gender in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (LA-HNSCC). We characterized the sex-specific differences and compared the overall survival (OS) between male and female patients in a multicenter cohort of LA-HNSCC. To minimize the observed confounding, propensity score matching was utilized. The study included 445 patients; 385 (86.5%) were men and 60 (13.5%) were women. In terms of age, smoking habits, drinking habits, and primary tumor locations, there was a significant imbalance in sex before the matching. Propensity score matching yielded 60 patient pairs, with no statistical difference between the sexes in terms of their characteristics. As for the treatment strategies, there were no significant differences between the sexes before (
= 0.260) and after (
= 0.585) the propensity score matching. When comparing the survival probabilities between the sexes, OS was not significantly different in the overall (HR 1.02; 95% CI 0.59-1.76;
= 0.938) and propensity-score-matched population (HR 1.46; 95% CI 0.68-3.17;
= 0.331). These results suggest that there was no difference in prognosis by gender in the treatment modalities and outcomes of LA-HNSCC in real-world practice.