Analysis of palliative care treatment among head and neck patients with cancer: National perspective

Abstract

Background: To analyze the characteristics and survival patterns of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) who received palliative treatment during their first course of treatment. Methods: Cohort analysis utilizing the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) of patients with a diagnosis of oral cavity/oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal, and laryngeal SCC. Statistical analysis included multivariate logistic regression and Cox Hazard ratio modeling, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Results: 165 081 patients were included, of which 2747 patients received palliative treatment. Patients who received palliative treatment tended to be ≥65 years old, black, Charlson/Deyo score ≥3, hypopharyngeal cancer, stage (III-IV), with Medicaid insurance (P