Table 5.

Baseline characteristics of the population receiving oral health screening (HEALS-Dental+) and univariate analysis for risk of head and neck cancer

Variable	No. (%)	No. of events	5-Year HNC-free rate (%)	10-Year HNC-free rate (%)	p-value
Age (continuous, median)	52.8±8.9				< 0.001
Sex
Male	100,584 (60.9)	393	99.928	99.865	< 0.001
Female	64,708 (39.1)	94	99.798	99.638
Income
5th quintile (highest)	66,073 (40.0)	186	99.852	99.745	0.302
4th quintile	33,597 (20.3)	100	99.844	99.723
3rd quintile	22,677 (13.7)	84	99.840	99.651
2nd quintile	20,441 (12.4)	53	99.851	99.753
1st quintile (lowest)	21,924 (13.3)	63	99.852	99.730
Covered by medical aid	580 (0.4)	1	100.000	100.000
Disability
No	164,376 (99.4)	476	99.853	99.733	< 0.001
Yes	916 (0.6)	11	99.094	98.703
Charlson comorbidity index (continuous, mean)	0.5±0.8				< 0.001
Smoking
Never/Ex-smoker	124,425 (75.3)	326	99.866	99.757	< 0.001
Current	40,867 (24.7)	161	99.797	99.636
Alcohol consumption
No	87,726 (53.1)	211	99.868	99.772	< 0.001
Yes	77,566 (46.9)	276	99.828	99.677
Oral health
No. of missing teeth
0	125,716 (76.1)	332	99.861	99.753	< 0.001
≥ 1	39,576 (23.9)	155	99.810	99.644
Tooth brushing (times/day)
0–1	25,467 (15.4)	93	99.785	99.646	0.028
≥ 2	139,825 (84.6)	394	99.861	99.742
Periodontal disease
No	81,572 (49.4)	250	99.833	99.704	0.405
Yes	83,720 (50.6)	237	99.865	99.751
No. of dental caries
0–5	163,668 (99.0)	482	99.850	99.727	> 0.99
≥ 6	1,624 (1.0)	5	99.814	99.747
Dental visit for any reason
No	94,843 (57.4)	271	99.857	99.732	0.466
Yes	70,449 (42.6)	216	99.838	99.721
Dental visit for professional cleaning
No (< 1/yr)	125,413 (75.9)	368	99.843	99.726	0.915
Yes	39,879 (24.1)	119	99.869	99.732

HEALS, national health screening; HNC, head and neck cancer.