To what extent has the last two decades seen significant progress in the management of older patients with head and neck cancer

Abstract Introduction Life expectancy is rising and therefore also the number of older patients with head and neck cancer. Different treatment regimens are often applied for older patients. The aim of this study is to investigate how treatment patterns and survival rates have changed over the past 20 years in older patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Materials and methods Patient and tumour characteristics, treatment and 5-year survival data from the Netherlands Cancer Registry of patients aged ≥60 years diagnosed with HNSCC in 1990–1995 and 2010–2015 were compared using chi-square test and relative survival analysis. Results Data of 14,114 patients were analyzed. Oral cavity cancer treatment did not change over time, while survival improved from 54% to 58% (p = 0.03). Oropharyngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer treatment shifted towards non-surgical, with survival improving from 31% to 51% (p  Conclusion Relative survival increased for all head and neck cancer sites in older patients, except for laryngeal cancer. For oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal and advanced laryngeal cancer, a shift towards non-surgical treatment modalities was observed.