Pre-treatment performance status and stage at diagnosis in patients with head and neck cancers

Performance status (PS) is a key factor in the selection of treatment in head and neck cancer patients (HNC). There is a probability in the development of an unfavorable PS with HNC advancing stages. This retrospective study was done on data of patients registered during the period from January 2010 to December 2012 at a cancer registry in the North Eastern India. PS was recorded according to the WHO scale. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the probability of poor performance status with advancing stage. Out of 3,593 patients, there were 78.9% (2,836) males and 21.1% (757) females. Average PS0 was seen in 57.4% of all HNCs, less than 1% of all cases in HNCs with poor PS3-4 except in cases with thyroid, parotid and nose and PNS cancers, 0.7% stage IV (±M1) HNC with PS4, favorable PS0-1 was seen in 84% to 100% of cases, RR=57.1 (CI=21.2-154.1) in M1 for PS4 and with advancing stages the probability of worsening of PS0 to PS4 was 3 times (P=0.021, 95% CI= 1.187-8.474). In HNC, the majority of patients presents with a favorable PS0- 1 with different odds of worsening of PS with advancing stages and the presence of metastasis in stage IV is significantly associated with a poor PS.