Impact of age on survival of locoregional nasopharyngeal carcinoma: An analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program database, 2004-2013.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the impact of age at diagnosis and other factors on survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective, population-based cohort study of 3103 patients are selected, whose records were submitted to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2004 and 2013. We evaluated the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients who were 20 years or older with a diagnosis of primary, non-metastatic NPC.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall survival (OS) and risks of OS and NPC-specific survival.

RESULTS: Overall survival rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 85.8%, 71.0%, and 62.6%, respectively. Older age was a significant predictor of poor OS, as was Chinese ethnicity. We also determined that middle-aged white patients, but not middle-aged black or Chinese patients, were at a higher risk of death than were younger patients of the same race/ethnicity. Nodal (N) stage 0-1 disease was a significant predictor of poor OS when comparing survival of older patients with N0-1 vs N2-3 stage disease. Finally, we found that married patients had a decreased risk of death when compared to those who were single.

CONCLUSIONS: The survival of older patients with NPC is inferior to that of younger patients. Race/ethnicity, marital status, and stage of disease are important modifiers of risk. Collectively, our results indicate that management of older patients requires optimisation.