Bigelow EO, et al. - Given the increasing prevalence of survivors of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) due to improved survival for individuals with human papillomavirus (HPV)–related disease, researchers sought to compare the burden of comorbidities among elderly survivors of OPC vs a similar cohort without a history of cancer. From the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)–Medicare-linked databases, they included a total of 2,497 eligible patients with OPC and matched these to 4,994 noncancer controls. The cases exhibited a higher tendency to develop comorbidities including cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and tobacco abuse and had a moderately high risk of developing other conditions including carotid artery occlusive stroke, alcohol abuse, depression, and anxiety. The majority of these comorbidities were identified to be correlated with reduced survival. In view of these findings, they recommend screening for highly prevalent conditions in oncologic surveillance of survivors of OPC.