Marital status as a predictor of survival in patients with human papilloma virus-positive oropharyngeal cancer

Purpose Determine whether marital status is a significant predictor of survival in human papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal cancer. Materials and methods A single center retrospective study included patients diagnosed with human papilloma virus-positive oropharyngeal cancer at Boston Medical Center between January 1, 2010 and December 30, 2015, and initiated treatment with curative intent at Boston Medical Center. Demographic data and tumor-related variables were recorded. Univariate analysis was performed using a two-sample t-test, chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, and Kaplan Meier curves with a log rank test. Multivariate survival analysis was performed using a Cox regression model. Results A total of 65 patients were included in the study with 24 patients described as married and 41 patients described as single. There was no significant difference in most demographic variables or tumor related variables between the two study groups, except single patients were significantly more likely to have government insurance (p = 0.0431). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in 3-year overall survival between married patients and single patients (married = 91.67% vs single = 87.80%; p = 0.6532) or 3-year progression free survival (married = 79.17% vs single = 85.37%; p = 0.8136). After adjusting for confounders including age, sex, race, insurance type, smoking status, treatment, and AJCC combined pathologic stage, marital status was not a significant predictor of survival [HR = 0.903; 95% CI (0.126,6.489); p = 0.9192]. Conclusions Although previous literature has demonstrated that married patients with head and neck cancer have a survival benefit compared to single patients with head and neck cancer, we were unable to demonstrate the same survival benefit in a cohort of patients with human papilloma virus-positive oropharyngeal cancer.