Prospective head and neck cancer research: A four-decade bibliometric perspective

Background. It is unknown whether changes in study sponsorshiphaveaffectedtheproportionofprospectiveresearchonsurgery, radiotherapy, and pharmacotherapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) being published over time. Patients and Methods.Weexamined prospective studies from PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010. Chi-squared tests were used to identify significant associations between sponsorship and authorship, treatments within study protocols, and presentation of results, whereas time-basedtrendswereanalyzedusingtheCochran-Armitagetest. Results. Among 309 articles, industry (70, 22.7%) and the U.S. government (65, 21%) were the most common sponsors. There was a significant increase in the proportion of industry- sponsored research (p for trend=.013) and a decline in U.S. government-sponsored research (p for trend =.001) over time. The inclusion of surgery in treatment protocols declined over the past four decades (p for trend =.003). Protocols incorporating pharmacotherapy were more likely to have industry support than those without pharmacotherapy (p=.001), whereas protocols with radiotherapy (p =.003) or surgery (p =.002) were less likely to have industry support. Conclusion. Industry is the predominant sponsor of prospective HNSCC research, with an emphasis on pharmacotherapy.