HPV-Related Throat Cancer Outcomes in Men Vary by Race, Ethnicity

FRIDAY, July 15, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Non-Hispanic White men are disproportionately affected by late-stage human papillomavirus (HPV)-related oropharyngeal cancer (OPC), but cancer-specific mortality (CSM) is elevated among Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black men, according to a study published online July 1 in the Annals of Cancer Epidemiology.

Seiichi Villalona, M.D., from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey, and colleagues examined age-adjusted incidence trends, late-stage diagnosis, survival, and CSM among men diagnosed with HPV-related OPC from 2005 to 2016 in the United States in a population-based retrospective cohort study.

The researchers found that 84.2 percent of the 162,183 HPV-related OPCs were in non-Hispanic White men; from 2005 to 2016, there was a 50 percent increase in late-stage cancer incidence among White men. Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black men had similar odds of late-stage diagnosis as White men, but they had higher CSM (adjusted hazard ratios, 1.17 and 1.79, respectively). The higher mortality among Hispanic and Black men was attenuated, but not eliminated, after adjustment for treatment.

"Since these oropharyngeal cancers are all potentially preventable through the administration of the HPV vaccine, public health campaigns are needed to increase awareness of HPV’s link to throat cancer, its signs and symptoms, and to promote uptake of HPV vaccinations in all adolescent and young adult males," a coauthor said in a statement.

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