ArticleCancer causes & control : CCC2024
The association between the Mediterranean Diet Score and death from cancer of the head and neck.
Article in Cancer causes & control : CCC, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and the Risk of Head and Neck Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Case-Control Studies.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- A cross-sectional analysis of baseline diet quality among participants enrolled in delicious eating for life in the southern homes weight loss randomized trial.Nutrition and health · 2026Article
- Nutrition in HNSCC: is it a matter for oncologists? The role of multidisciplinary team-a narrative literature review.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe association between diet quality, captured by the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), and mortality was studied among 1184 individuals diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC) who reflected on the year preceding diagnosis about their usual diet using National Cancer Institute's Diet History Questionnaire (DHQ).
methodsIntakes of nine dietary components were scored and summed to construct the MDS (sample: median = 4; range (0-9); lower MDS reflected poorer diet quality; 5-year survival probability = 0.62). Cox regression estimated 5-year hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95CI) for all-cause mortality and for HNC-specific death for contrasts of MDS quintiles. Effect measure modification (EMM) by tumor features [human papillomavirus (HPV) positivity; anatomic site] and sociodemographic behavioral factors [race, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol consumption] was explored.
resultsThe 5-year [HR (95CI); P-trend] for all-cause mortality and HNC-specific mortality for highest versus lowest MDS quintile contrasts were [0.51 (0.33, 0.80); 0.014] and [0.43 (0.22, 0.85); 0.004], respectively. A unit increase in MDS adherence resulted in a 15% reduction of the 5-year HR for HNC-specific death for tumors located at the oral cavity [HR (95CI): 0.85 (0.75, 0.96)]. Poor diet quality (MDS ≤ 4) interacted with lower BMI (kg/m
conclusionGreater adherence to a Mediterranean diet pattern prior to HNC diagnosis may reduce post-diagnosis mortality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.