Competing causes of death in the head and neck cancer population

It is estimated that 61,760 individuals will be diagnosed with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in the United States in 2016, and 13,190 will die from this disease [1]. In addition to death from HNSCC itself, these patients are at risk of dying from other causes. These alternative etiologies are referred to as competing causes, with associated risk factors termed competing risks, because they compete with the cancer itself to cause death [2–4]. This has become even more relevant due to the improvement in HNSCC prognosis and overall survival in the last three decades [5], with at least 436,000 current HNSCC survivors in the United States [6].

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