Risk factors for head and neck cancer in young adults: a pooled analysis in the INHANCE consortium

Tatiana Natasha Toporcov, Ariana Znaor, Zuo-Feng Zhang, Guo-Pei Yu, Deborah M Winn, Qingyi Wei, Marta Vilensky, Thomas Vaughan, Peter Thomson, Renato Talamini, Neonila Szeszenia-Dabrowska, Erich M Sturgis, Elaine Smith, Oxana Shangina, Stephen M Schwartz, Stimson Schantz, Peter Rudnai, Lorenzo Richiardi, Heribert Ramroth, Mark P PurdueAndrew F Olshan, José Eluf-Neto, Joshua Muscat, Raquel Ajub Moyses, Hal Morgenstern, Ana Menezes, Michael McClean, Keitaro Matsuo, Dana Mates, Tatiana MacFarlane, Jolanta Lissowska, Fabio Levi, Philip Lazarus, Carlo La Vecchia, Pagona Lagiou, Sergio Koifman, Kristina Kjaerheim, Karl Kelsey, Ivana Holcatova, Rolando Herrero, Claire Healy, Richard B Hayes, Silvia Franceschi, Leticia Fernandez, Eleonora Fabianova, Alexander W Daudt, Otávio Alberto Curioni, Luigino Dal Maso, Maria Paula Curado, David I Conway, Chu Chen, Xavier Castellsague, Cristina Canova, Gabriella Cadoni, Paul Brennan, Stefania Boccia, José Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes, Wolfgang Ahrens, Antonio Agudo, Paolo Boffetta, Mia Hashibe, Yuan-Chin Amy Lee, Victor Wünsch Filho

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127 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Increasing incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) in young adults has been reported. We aimed to compare the role of major risk factors and family history of cancer in HNC in young adults and older patients.

METHODS: We pooled data from 25 case-control studies and conducted separate analyses for adults ≤45 years old ('young adults', 2010 cases and 4042 controls) and >45 years old ('older adults', 17 700 cases and 22 704 controls). Using logistic regression with studies treated as random effects, we estimated adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS: The young group of cases had a higher proportion of oral tongue cancer (16.0% in women; 11.0% in men) and unspecified oral cavity / oropharynx cancer (16.2%; 11.1%) and a lower proportion of larynx cancer (12.1%; 16.6%) than older adult cases. The proportions of never smokers or never drinkers among female cases were higher than among male cases in both age groups. Positive associations with HNC and duration or pack-years of smoking and drinking were similar across age groups. However, the attributable fractions (AFs) for smoking and drinking were lower in young when compared with older adults (AFs for smoking in young women, older women, young men and older men, respectively, = 19.9% (95% CI = 9.8%, 27.9%), 48.9% (46.6%, 50.8%), 46.2% (38.5%, 52.5%), 64.3% (62.2%, 66.4%); AFs for drinking = 5.3% (-11.2%, 18.0%), 20.0% (14.5%, 25.0%), 21.5% (5.0%, 34.9%) and 50.4% (46.1%, 54.3%). A family history of early-onset cancer was associated with HNC risk in the young [OR = 2.27 (95% CI = 1.26, 4.10)], but not in the older adults [OR = 1.10 (0.91, 1.31)]. The attributable fraction for family history of early-onset cancer was 23.2% (8.60% to 31.4%) in young compared with 2.20% (-2.41%, 5.80%) in older adults.

CONCLUSIONS: Differences in HNC aetiology according to age group may exist. The lower AF of cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking in young adults may be due to the reduced length of exposure due to the lower age. Other characteristics, such as those that are inherited, may play a more important role in HNC in young adults compared with older adults.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)169-185
Number of pages17
JournalInternational Journal of Epidemiology
Volume44
Issue number1
Early online date22 Jan 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Feb 2015

Bibliographical note

© The Author 2015; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

Funding
This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute [R03CA113157] and the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Health [R03DE016611]. The individual studies were funded by the following grants: Milan study: Italian Association for Research on Cancer (AIRC); Aviano study: Italian Association for Research on Cancer (AIRC), Italian League
Against Cancer and Italian Ministry of Research; France study: Swiss League against Cancer [KFS1069-09-2000], Fribourg League against Cancer [FOR381.88], Swiss Cancer Research [AKT 617] and Gustave-Roussy Institute [88D28]; Italy multicentre study: Italian Association for Research on Cancer (AIRC), Italian League against Cancer and Italian Ministry of Research; Swiss study: Swiss League against Cancer and the Swiss Research against Cancer/
Oncosuisse [KFS-700, OCS-1633]; Central Europe study: World Cancer Research Fund and the European Commission INCOCOPERNICUS Program [Contract No. IC15- CT98-0332]; New York study: National Institutes of Health (NIH) US [P01CA068384 K07CA104231]; Seattle study: NIH [R01CA048996,
R01DE012609]; Iowa study: NIH [NIDCR R01DE11979, NIDCR R01DE13110, NIH FIRCA TW01500] and Veterans Affairs Merit Review Funds; North Carolina study: NIH [R01CA61188] and in part by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [P30ES010126]; Tampa study: NIH [P01CA068384, K07CA104231, R01DE13158]; Los Angeles study: NIH
[P50CA90388, R01DA11386, R03CA77954, T32CA09142, U01CA96134, R21ES011667] and the Alper Research Program for Environmental Genomics of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center; Houston study: NIH [R01ES11740, R01CA100264]; Puerto Rico study: jointly funded by National
Institutes of Health (NCI) US and NIDCR intramural programmes; Latin America study: Fondo para la Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (FONCYT) Argentina, IMIM (Barcelona), Fundac¸a˜o de Amparo a` Pesquisa no Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) [No 01/ 01768-2] and European Commission [IC18-CT97-0222]; IARC
multicentre study: Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) of the Spanish Government [FIS 97/ 0024, FIS 97/0662, BAE 01/5013], International Union Against Cancer (UICC) and Yamagiwa-Yoshida Memorial International Cancer Study Grant; Boston study: National Institutes of Health (NIH) US [R01CA078609,
R01CA100679]; Rome study: AIRC (Italian Agency for Research on Cancer) [10068]; US multicentre study: the Intramural Program of the NCI, NIH, United States; Sa˜o Paulo study: Fundac¸a˜o de Amparo a Pesquisa no Estado de Sa˜o Paulo (FAPESP) [04/12054-9, 10/51168-0]; MSKCC study: NIH [R01CA51845]; Seattle study: NIH [R01CA30022]; European study: European Community (5th
Framework Programme) [QLK1-CT-2001- 00182]; GermanyHeidelberg
study: German Ministry of Education and Research [01GB9702/3]; Japan study: Scientific Research grant from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, Culture and Technology of Japan [17015052] and a grant for the Third-Term Comprehensive 182 International Journal of Epidemiology, 2015, Vol. 44, No. 110-Year Strategy for Cancer Control from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan [H20-002].

Keywords

  • Head and Neck cancer
  • Risk factors
  • Young adults
  • Family history

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