Table 3.

Multivariate Cox regression analysis of prognostic factors of HNSCC

Variable	OS
	RR	95% CI	p-value
Sex (male/female)	0.745	(0.536, 1.038)	0.082
Age, years (≥ 60/ < 60)	0.823	(0.607, 1.117)	0.211
Smoking status (yes/no)	1.065	(0.732, 1.549)	0.742
Tumor stage (T1/T2/T3/T4)	0.865	(0.710, 1.054)	0.150
Lymph metastasis (N0/N1/N2)	1.012	(0.839, 1.221)	0.901
Clinical stage (I/II/III/IV)	1.531	(1.194, 1.963)	0.001*
PLAU expression (high/low)	1.639	(1.216, 2.209)	0.001*

OS overall survival, RR relative risk, CI confidence interval

*p < 0.05