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What's Love Got to do with it? Marital status and survival of head and neck cancer.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Osazuwa-Peters, N; Christopher, KM; Cass, LM; Massa, ST; Hussaini, AS; Behera, A; Walker, RJ; Varvares, MA
Published in: Eur J Cancer Care (Engl)
July 2019

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether marital status independently predicts survival in a head and neck cancer (HNC) survivor population. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we analysed data from 460 adult patients (59.31 ± 11.42) years diagnosed with HNC at an academic tertiary referral centre between 1997 and 2012. Cox proportional hazards model estimated the effect of marital status on survival. RESULTS: Our study had 73% men, and 82.2% were Whites. We found an association between marital status and HNC survival. Unmarried HNC patients had a 66% increase in hazard of death compared to married patients (aHR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.23-2.23). This was after controlling for sociodemographic variables (age, race, sex and health insurance status), social habits (tobacco and alcohol), primary anatomical subsite (oral cavity, oropharyngeal, laryngeal and others), stage at presentation (early vs. late stage) and treatment modality (surgery, surgery with adjuvant therapies, other single modality therapy and palliative care). CONCLUSIONS: Being married confers survival advantage for HNC survivors. Our finding underscores the need to recognise this aspect of survivorship. Social support should be considered part of standard care for managing HNC. There may also be need to develop other support mechanisms, especially for unmarried HNC survivors.

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Published In

Eur J Cancer Care (Engl)

DOI

EISSN

1365-2354

Publication Date

July 2019

Volume

28

Issue

4

Start / End Page

e13022

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Retrospective Studies
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • Middle Aged
  • Marital Status
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms
  • Female
  • Cohort Studies
 

Citation

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Osazuwa-Peters, N., Christopher, K. M., Cass, L. M., Massa, S. T., Hussaini, A. S., Behera, A., … Varvares, M. A. (2019). What's Love Got to do with it? Marital status and survival of head and neck cancer. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl), 28(4), e13022. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.13022
Osazuwa-Peters, Nosayaba, Kara M. Christopher, Lauren M. Cass, Sean T. Massa, Adnan S. Hussaini, Anit Behera, Ronald J. Walker, and Mark A. Varvares. “What's Love Got to do with it? Marital status and survival of head and neck cancer.Eur J Cancer Care (Engl) 28, no. 4 (July 2019): e13022. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecc.13022.
Osazuwa-Peters N, Christopher KM, Cass LM, Massa ST, Hussaini AS, Behera A, et al. What's Love Got to do with it? Marital status and survival of head and neck cancer. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2019 Jul;28(4):e13022.
Osazuwa-Peters, Nosayaba, et al. “What's Love Got to do with it? Marital status and survival of head and neck cancer.Eur J Cancer Care (Engl), vol. 28, no. 4, July 2019, p. e13022. Pubmed, doi:10.1111/ecc.13022.
Osazuwa-Peters N, Christopher KM, Cass LM, Massa ST, Hussaini AS, Behera A, Walker RJ, Varvares MA. What's Love Got to do with it? Marital status and survival of head and neck cancer. Eur J Cancer Care (Engl). 2019 Jul;28(4):e13022.
Journal cover image

Published In

Eur J Cancer Care (Engl)

DOI

EISSN

1365-2354

Publication Date

July 2019

Volume

28

Issue

4

Start / End Page

e13022

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Retrospective Studies
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Oncology & Carcinogenesis
  • Middle Aged
  • Marital Status
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms
  • Female
  • Cohort Studies