Second primary head and neck cancer after Hodgkin lymphoma: A population-based study of 44,879 survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

Background Survivors of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) are at an increased risk of developing second malignancies. To the authors' knowledge, the risks of head and neck cancer (HNC) after HL and subsequent survival have not been thoroughly investigated. Methods From the US population-based Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for 1973 through 2011, survivors of HL who developed HNC as a second cancer were analyzed. Patients with a first primary HNC were used as a comparison group. Observed-to-expected ratios and summary statistics were performed on patients with HL with squamous cell carcinoma (HL-SCC) and salivary gland cancer (HL-SGC). The impact of HL history on overall survival was assessed using a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Results The observed-to-expected ratio for SCC among patients with HL was 1.73 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.36-2.16; P