Prevalence of comorbidities and effect on survival in survivors of human papillomavirus-related and human papillomavirus-unrelated head and neck cancer in the United States.

There is a large burden of comorbidities in both patients with HPV-related and HPV-unrelated HNC, both of which are associated with decreased survival. Oncologic surveillance should not be limited to the evaluation of disease status, but also should include screening for the highly prevalent conditions associated with the risk of death.