Advances in epidemiologic researches on human papillomavirus-associated head and neck cancer

The cause of head and neck cancer (HNC) is mainly tobacco and alcohol exposure. With the promotion of smoking cessation, the incidence of smoking-related HNC is decreasing but that of HNC associated with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is gradually increasing, especially in developed countries. In the United States, HPV-related HNC has became the number one HPV-related tumor with higher incidence than that of HPV-related cervical cancer. In addition, with successive implementation of HPV vaccine vaccination, cervical cancer research is gradually entering the post HPV-related vaccine era, and the research on other HPV-related tumors, especially HNC, is becoming the next hot spot of relevant studies.