Table 1.
Patient characteristics.
| Characteristic | N = 543 (%) |
|---|---|
| Age, years (median, range) | 61 (26–86) |
| Sex | |
| Male | 466 (86) |
| Female | 77 (14) |
| Race and ethnicity | |
| White | 471 (87) |
| Black or African American | 15 (3) |
| Asian | 6 (1) |
| Hispanic | 4 (1) |
| Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander | 1 (<1) |
| Preferred not to answer | 46 (9) |
| Smoking status | |
| Never | 291 (54) |
| Former (≥10 pack-years) | 230 (42) |
| Current | 22 (4) |
| Site of primary disease | |
| Tonsil | 267 (49) |
| Base of tongue | 223 (41) |
| Overlapping sites (tonsil/base of tongue) | 23 (4) |
| Unknown primary of the head and neck | 30 (6) |
| HPV testing methoda | |
| p16+ (by IHC) only | 242 (45) |
| p16+ and PCR or HPV ISH+ | 229 (42) |
| PCR or HPV ISH+ only (p16 unknown) | 71 (13) |
| p16+ and PCR or ISH− | 1 (<1) |
| HPV subtypeb | |
| 16 | 151 (86) |
| 18 | 2 (1) |
| 31 | 2 (1) |
| 33 | 11 (6) |
| 35 | 9 (5) |
| Initial primary tumor stagingc | |
| T0 | 25 (5) |
| T1 | 184 (34) |
| T2 | 214 (39) |
| T3 | 82 (15) |
| T4 | 37 (7) |
| Unknown | 2 (<1) |
| Nodal status at baselinec | |
| N0 | 58 (11) |
| N1 | 367 (68) |
| N2 | 106 (19) |
| N3 | 11 (2) |
| Unknown | 2 (<1) |
| Initial treatment modality | |
| Surgery | 121 (22) |
| Chemoradiation | 227 (42) |
| Surgery + RT | 84 (15) |
| Surgery + chemoradiation | 81 (15) |
| Other (chemotherapy, radiation only, immunotherapy, or EGFR inhibitor) | 30 (6) |
| Number of patients with pretreatment or baseline testing results available | 112 (21) |
Abbreviations: EGFR, epidermal growth factor receptor; HPV, human papillomavirus; IHC, immunohistochemistry; ISH, in situ hybridization; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RT, radiotherapy.
aNo patients were p16 negative and confirmatory HPV ISH or PCR positive.
bHPV status was only determined for those with at least one positive or detectable test result, so the total number is equal to 175.
cAccording to American Joint Committee on Cancer staging manual 2017, 8th edition staging (if both pathologic and clinical staging were available, pathologic stage is reported).