Skip to main content
AAO-HNSF 2025 Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Scientific Oral Presentations

Head and Neck Surgery

Session: Scientific Presentation 9 - Head and Neck Surgery

Social Support and Postoperative Radiation Therapy Delays in Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

Tuesday, October 14, 2025
9:54 AM - 10:00 AM EDT
Location: 128
Disclosure(s):
May Z. Gao, BA:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Delays in initiating postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) for head and neck cancers (HNC) are associated with worse survival. While being married/partnered has been shown to be associated with improved HNC survival, its impact on timely initiation of PORT is unclear. We examined the association between partner status, a proxy for social support, and PORT delays.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used a query tool (DEDUCE) to identify individuals diagnosed with HNC seen for radiation oncology consults between 1/1/2014 and 12/31/2023 at an academic institution. Individuals were included if they underwent surgical resection followed by PORT. The primary outcome was time to treatment (weeks from surgical resection to PORT initiation), with delays defined as >6 weeks per National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. A negative binomial regression model analyzed predictors of time to treatment, including race, sex, marital status, smoking status, alcohol use, insurance status, and cancer type and stage.

Results: 271 met inclusion criteria with 57% experiencing delays to PORT. Married/partnered individuals had a mean time to treatment of 7.14 weeks (SD=4.02). Divorced individuals had a 21% significantly longer time to treatment compared to those married/partnered (aRR=1.21, 95% CI: 1.00-1.47) with a mean time to treatment of 8.71 weeks (SD=3.00). Single individuals had a 5.9% longer time to treatment (aRR=1.06, 95% CI: 0.89-1.25) with a mean of 7.67 weeks (SD=4.99), but this was not statistically significant. Black patients experienced a 20% longer time to treatment compared to White patients (aRR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.03-1.40).

Conclusions: Most patients at our institution face delays in PORT initiation. Partner status–an indicator of emotional, logistical, and financial support–influences timely access to cancer care.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • May Z. Gao, BA

    Medical Student
    Duke University
    Durham, NC, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Alexandra E. Hunter, BA

    Medical Student
    Duke University School of Medicine
    Durham, NC, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • Rebecca A. Zasloff, MPH

    Medical Student
    Duke University School of Medicine
    Durham, NC, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • RJ

    Rong Jiang, PhD

    Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
    Duke University, USA

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • EG

    Evan M. Graboyes, MD, MPH

    Professor
    Medical University of South Carolina
    Charleston, SC, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • NO

    Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters, PhD

    Academic Researcher
    Duke University Medical Center
    Durham, North Carolina, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.