Head and neck cancer in the young: a prognostic conundrum?

A series of 116 young adults with cancer in the head and neck who had been followed up for five years or longer were reviewed. The study aimed to assess whether malignancy in this age group was increasing, whether their prognosis was worse and if so, why. They were compared with data available on the patient population as a whole treated during the same period. This demonstrated that it is the intrinsic characteristics of the tumour, its site and extent rather than the age of the individual which determines prognosis though the ratio of men to women was less in the young adults in several sites possibly due to a diminished impact of recognized aetiological factors.