48 Whitney U test was run to test for differences between patients and healthy controls regarding age, number of teeth, and number of occlusal units, and a chi-square test was run to test for differences regarding sex. All analyses were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 (Chicago, IL). A p-value below 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results Thirty-four patients with HNC and 42 healthy controls performed the MAT twice within a time interval of two hours. In the patient group, eleven patients performed the test before HNC treatment, six patients 3 months after treatment, five patients 6 months after treatment, five patients 12 months after treatment, and seven patients 24 months after treatment. No missing data were reported. In Table 1, subject characteristics are depicted for both patients with HNC and healthy controls. Table 1. Characteristics of patients with head and neck cancer and healthy controls Characteristics Patients (n = 34) Healthy controls (n = 42) p-value Age (median, IQR) 64 (9) 31 (27) <0.001*† Sex Male Female 29 (85%) 5 (15%) 20 (48%) 22 (52%) 0.001*‡ Number of teeth (median, IQR) 30 (16) 30 (4) 0.968† Number of occlusal units (median, IQR) 12 (16) 12 (4) 0.641† Tumor site Oropharynx Larynx Oral cavity Hypopharynx Unknown primary tumor 16 (47%) 10 (29%) 5 (15%) 2 (6%) 1 (3%) NA - Tumor Stage I II III IV 7 (20.5%) 7 (20.5%) 5 (15%) 15 (44%) NA - Primary Treatment RT CRT Surgery Surgery with PORT 15 (44%) 13 (38%) 4 (12%) 2 (6%) NA - *: p≤0.001, †: Mann-Whitney U test, ‡: Chi-square test CRT: Chemoradiotherapy, IQR: Interquartile Range, PORT: Post-Operative Radiotherapy, RT: Radiotherapy
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