survival and recurrence rate in patients with head and neck cancer and associated prognostic factors

Background: head and neck cancer (hnc) is the 6th most common cancer worldwide. its recurrence probability is known as the greatest obstacle to prolong survival rate. objectives: this study was conducted to assess survival and recurrence rate of hnc and their associated risk factors. methods: this retrospective cohort study was conducted on 179 hnc patients, who were diagnosed from april 2007 to november 2013 in tehran, iran. two outcomes were simultaneously analyzed: time between diagnosis and disease recurrence or interrecurrences; the time between diagnosis and death or end of the study. kaplan-meier curve, log-rank test, and general joint frailty model were utilized to data analysis, using stata 11.0 and r. results: from 179 patients, 52.5% experienced relapse at least once and 15.6% of cases deceased. the survival rate in 12-, 24-, and 60- month were 94.4, 83.1%, and 55.4%, respectively. the median of survival time was 60.92 (1.1 - 72.9) months, which was longer in patients with relapse (63.62 versus 24.16). advanced stage and the age older than 50 significantly increased the risk of death about 4-fold and 3-fold (p = 0.007, p = 0.014). moreover, the initial treatment of surgery + radiotherapy + chemotherapy had significantly raised the hazard of relapse (p < 0.001). conclusions: the percentage of deceased patients in relapse group was more than non-relapses, but the median of survival time in them was longer. early detection can prevent recurrent events and the premature death of hnc patients.