Patterns and Prognostic Value of Lymph Node Metastasis on Distant Metastasis and Survival in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Study, 2006–2015

Table 4

Cox regression analyses for evaluating the risk LN metastasis categories for CSS in 1884 eligible NPC patients with LN metastasis.

LN metastasis category	Univariate analysis		Multivariate analysis
	HR (95% CI)		HR (95% CI)
Level 2	Reference		Reference
Levels 23	1.106 (0.770, 1.587)	0.587	1.137 (0.786, 1.646)	0.495
Level 1	1.200 (0.811, 1.776)	0.361	1.175 (0.790, 1.749)	0.426
Level 5	1.073 (0.704, 1.634)	0.745	1.048 (0.682, 1.609)	0.832
Levels 25	1.397 (0.934, 2.090)	0.103	1.118 (0.736, 1.699)	0.600
Levels 12	1.361 (0.850, 2.180)	0.200	1.360 (0.841, 2.201)	0.210
Levels 2345	1.338 (0.844, 2.123)	0.216	0.928 (0.563, 1.528)	0.768
Levels 235	1.518 (0.989, 2.329)	0.056	1.708 (1.089, 2.678)	0.020
Levels 2rp	0.717 (0.365, 1.409)	0.334	0.588 (0.295, 1.173)	0.132
Levels 234	1.435 (0.876, 2.349)	0.151	1.299 (0.772, 2.188)	0.325
Level rp	1.106 (0.581, 2.105)	0.758	0.869 (0.452, 1.672)	0.674
Level 3	1.709 (1.017, 2.873)	0.043	1.602 (0.938, 2.737)	0.084
Levels 23rp	1.266 (0.665, 2.409)	0.472	1.248 (0.646, 2.408)	0.510
Levels 24	1.889 (1.045, 3.412)	0.035	1.587 (0.866, 2.908)	0.135

CI, confidence interval; CSS, cancer-specific survival; HR, hazard ratio; LN, lymph node; rp, retropharynx. Level 2 means the patients with only level II LN metastasis, Levels 23 means the patients with level II and III LN metastases, etc. Multivariate analysis adjusted for age, sex, race, histology, TNM stage, and treatment (radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy).