. 2022 Jan 14;14(2):423. doi: 10.3390/cancers14020423

Table 4.

Univariate and multivariate analysis of clinicopathologic variables associated with overall survival (Table S4).

Univariate Analysis
Variable		Total			Adherence			Nonadherence
Variable		n = 1125	Mean OS (Months/% ¹)	p Value ²	n = 968	Mean OS (Months/% ¹)	p Value ²	n = 157	Mean OS (Months/% ¹)	p Value ²
Sex				0.664			0.779			0.460
	Male	759	64/41.1		650	69/44.7		109	27/19.5
	Female	366	60/42.2		318	64/45.8		48	33/19.0
Age at initial diagnosis of HNSCC				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.062
	70–74 years	506	70/45.9		432	77/50.3		74	33/20.2
	75–79 years	388	56/40.1		342	61/43.1		46	21/18.5
	80–84 years	143	51/34.1		114	52/36.3		29	35/24.8
	85–89 years	61	41/36.2		57	44/38.8		4	4/0.0
	Older than 90 years	27	20/23.1		23	24/27.8		4	4/0.0
Tobacco exposure				0.001			0.003			0.664
	Non-smoker	221	70/52.2		203	74/54.7		18	25/27.8
	Current/former smoker	420	55/35.5		350	60/39.3		70	26/15.7
Alcohol abuse				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.021
	No ethanol consumption	434	69/52.5		391	46/55.5		43	16/8.2
	Ethanol consumption	199	40/23.1		160	72/26.8		39	37/22.9
Additional cancer diagnoses				0.060			0.073			0.080
	Other cancers	372	54/37.1		325	58/40.5		47	19/13.3
	None	753	67/43.8		643	75/47.6		110	35/21.7
Charlson comorbidity index				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.025
	≤5	753	74/48.5		644	80/51.5		89	39/25.7
	≥6	372	39/27.1		304	44/30.6		68	17/11.5
Karnofsky performance status				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.004
	≤70%	604	37/22.8		482	41/25.2		122	23/13.5
	≥80%	521	90/62.4		486	93/64.2		35	55/37.3
Site of primary tumour				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.361
	Oropharynx	305	64/41.6		252	72/47.2		53	22/11.8
	Oral cavity	449	56/42.9		393	58/45.4		56	34/25.2
	Larynx	215	85/50.9		186	92/56.2		29	37/23.9
	Hypopharynx	95	31/15.4		81	25/14.9		14	22/14.3
	Paranasal sinus	43	56/43.4		39	60/45.0		4	23/0.0
	Nasopharynx	18	29/25.8		17	30/27.5		1	6/0.0
P16 in Oropharynx-Carcinoma				0.191			0.198			0.329
	Positive	93	72/49.1		75	80/55.7		18	23/0.0
	Negative	89	54/39.7		75	59/44.8		14	17/10.7
Grading				0.018			0.188			0.214
	G1	105	64/53.4		99	66/54.2		6	34/50.0
	G2	657	65/41.9		569	70/45.4		88	27/19.1
	G3	253	55/37.0		204	61/42.4		49	24/13.4
T classification				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.064
	T1–2	586	86/54.9		536	89/57.3		50	40/30.0
	T3–4	539	41/26.9		432	45/30.0		107	27/14.1
N classification				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.012
	Positive	543	48/29.5		445	53/33.1		98	22/12.9
	Negative	582	76/52.5		523	83/55.2		59	45/29.1
M classification				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.182
	Positive	44	9/0.0		34	9/0.0		10	7/12.5
	Negative	1081	65/42.9		934	71/46.5		147	32/19.9
UICC stage (8th edition)				≤0.001			≤0.001			0.333
	I–II	451	93/61.4		422	96/63.6		29	34/29.8
	III–IV	674	45/28.5		546	49/31.2		128	29/16.8
Treatment received				≤0.001			≤0.001			≤0.001
	Palliative/ BSC	80	6/0.0		28	7/0.0		52	5/4.3
	Pall. R(C)T	89	12/9.9		69	12/10.2		20	10/10.0
	Surgery	449	91/62.9		385	99/66.9		64	59/38.3
	Surgery + adj. R(C)T	184	65/40.6		178	66/40.7		6	31/33.3
	Def. R(C)T	309	46/32.1		297	48/33.4		12	3/0.0
	ST	14	10/0.0		11	11/0.0		3	5/0.0
Treatment recommendation				≤0.001			≤0.001			≤0.001
	Palliative/ BSC	28	7/0.0		28	7/0.0		-	-
	Pall. R(C)T	94	10/8.4		69	12/10.2		25	5/5.0
	Surgery	393	97/65.5		385	99/66.9		8	5/0.0
	Surgery + adj. R(C)T	246	64/40.4		178	66/40.7		68	58/39.5
	Def. R(C)T	351	42/28.9		297	48/33.4		54	7/5.7
	ST	13	9/0.0		11	11/0.0		2	1/0.0
Adherence to treatment recommendation				≤0.001			-			-
	Adherent	968	69/45.1		-	-		-	-
	Nonadherent	157	31/19.2		-	-		-	-
Implementation of therapy				≤0.001			-			≤0.001
	Discontinued	78	13/8.5		-	-		78	13/8.5
	Rejected	79	46/29.5			-		79	46/29.5
	Carried out	968	69/45.1		968	69/45.1		-	-
Intention of therapy				≤0.001			≤0.001			≤0.001
	Curative	860	76/49.8		860	76/49.8		-	-
	Palliative	183	9/5.1		108	11/5.9		75	7/5.7
	Curative, discontinued	82	49/32.7		-	-		82	49/32.7
Multivariate Cox Regression Analysis
Variable			n = 1125		HR		95% CI		p Value
Age of diagnosis					1.401		1.112–1.765		0.004
		≤75	606
		≥76	519
Tobacco exposure					1.376		1.065–1.778		0.014
		Non-smoker	221
		Current/ former smoker	420
Charlson comorbidity index					1.419		1.138–1.769		0.002
		≤5	753
		≥6	372
Karnofsky performance status					0.536		0.424–0.678		≤0.001
		≤70%	604
		≥80%	521
UICC stage (8th edition)					2.040		1.617–2.575		≤0.001
		I–II	451
		III–IV	674
Adherence to treatment recommendation					1.779		1.349–2.345		≤0.001
		Adherent	968
		Nonadherent	157

OS, overall survival; HNSCC, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; UICC, Union for International Cancer Control; BSC, Best Supportive Care; Pall. R(C)T, palliative radio(chemo)therapy; ST, systemic therapy; Adj. R(C)T, adjuvant radio(chemo)therapy; Def. R(C)T, definitive radio(chemo)therapy. ¹ Proportion of patients alive after a follow-up period of 60 months. ² The p-values for the univariate analysis were determined using the log-rank test.