Human Papillomavirus and Rising Oropharyngeal Cancer Incidence in the United States

Authors

Anil K Chaturvedi
Eric A Engels
Ruth M Pfeiffer
Brenda Y Hernandez
Weihong Xiao
Esther Kim
Bo Jiang
Marc T Goodman
Maria Sibug-Saber
Wendy Cozen
Lihua Liu
Charles F Lynch
Nicolas Wentzensen
Richard C Jordan
Sean Altekruse
William F Anderson
Philip S Rosenberg
Maura L Gillison

Publication Date

6-10-2023

Journal

Journal of Clinical Oncology

Abstract

PURPOSE: Recent increases in incidence and survival of oropharyngeal cancers in the United States have been attributed to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, but empirical evidence is lacking.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: HPV status was determined for all 271 oropharyngeal cancers (1984-2004) collected by the three population-based cancer registries in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Residual Tissue Repositories Program by using polymerase chain reaction and genotyping (Inno-LiPA), HPV16 viral load, and HPV16 mRNA expression. Trends in HPV prevalence across four calendar periods were estimated by using logistic regression. Observed HPV prevalence was reweighted to all oropharyngeal cancers within the cancer registries to account for nonrandom selection and to calculate incidence trends. Survival of HPV-positive and HPV-negative patients was compared by using Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox regression analyses.

RESULTS: HPV prevalence in oropharyngeal cancers significantly increased over calendar time regardless of HPV detection assay (

CONCLUSION: Increases in the population-level incidence and survival of oropharyngeal cancers in the United States since 1984 are caused by HPV infection.

Comments

PMID: 37285653