title: Favorable prognosis of female patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: The female sex is traditionally considered a favorable prognostic factor for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, no particular study has reported this phenomenon. To explore the prognostic impact of gender on patients with NPC after definitive radiotherapy, we reviewed the clinical data of 2063 consecutive patients treated between 1st January 2000 and 31st December 2003 in the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. The median follow-up for the whole series was 81 months. The female and male patients with early stage disease comprised 49.4% and 28.1% of the patient population, respectively. Both the 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) rates of female patients were significantly higher than those of male patients (OS: 79% vs. 69%, P < 0.001; DSS: 81% vs. 70%, P < 0.001). For patients with locoregionally advanced NPC, the 5-year OS and DSS rates of female vs. male patients were 74% vs. 63% (P < 0.001) and 76% vs. 64%, respectively (P < 0.001). A multivariate analysis showed that gender, age, and TNM stage were independent prognostic factors for the 5-year OS and DSS of NPC patients. The favorable prognosis of female patients is not only attributed to the early diagnosis and treatment but might also be attributed to some intrinsic factors of female patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Fei-Li
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hai-Bo
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wei-Xiong
authors.initials: WX
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Si-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ning-Wei
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Chao-Nan
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Yan-Qun
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D011882:Radiotherapy, High-Energy; D012737:Sex Factors; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult