title: Survivorship--competing mortalities, morbidities, and second malignancies.
abstract: Mortality of head and neck cancer has declined in the United States over the past 20 years. This improvement has been linked to use of multimodality treatment of advanced disease. Despite this improvement, disease-specific survival remains low. Patients who survive head and neck cancer are exposed to morbidity and mortality secondary to the same factors as the general population. Factors related to cancer and cancer treatment predispose them to increased risk of mortality. Improvements in head and neck cancer treatment have led to a scenario where an increasing proportion of patients die from causes other than the primary cancer, called competing mortalities.
authors.affiliation: Head and Neck Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Pablo H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Montero-Miranda
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ganly
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality* / Q000556:secondary*; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology*; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary / Q000453:epidemiology*; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000150:complications; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate
keywords: Comorbidities; Competing mortalities; Head and neck cancer; Survival analysis