Prognostic significance of human papillomavirus and <scp>Epstein‐Bar</scp> virus in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background The clinical significance of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is unclear. Methods Three hundred and forty three patients with NPC diagnosed between 1998 and 2017 and treated at our institution were included. Chi-square was used to identify characteristics associated with viral status. Kaplan-Meier methods were used to estimate overall survival (OS) and Cox proportional regression was used to identify prognostic factors. Results Patients with HPV-associated NPC were more likely to have a positive smoking history and to present at a higher T classification. At a median follow-up time of 59.9 months (range: 0.1-222.4 months), there were no differences in OS (P = .198), time to local failure (LF, P = .403), or time to distant metastasis (DM, P = .849) between the viral subgroups. Older age (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.242, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.374-3.659, P = .001) and higher overall stage (HR: 2.047, 95% CI 1.235-3.391, P = .005) were prognostic for worse OS. Conclusion In our population, viral status was not prognostic for OS, LF, or DM.