Windon MJ, Fakhry C, Margalit DN, et al. - Experts aspired to explore whether patient and tumor characteristics, and survival differ among human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive base of tongue (BOT) and tonsil cancers utilizing a large US cancer database, and to contextualize epidemiologic trends by analyzing general tonsillectomy rates. From 2004 to 2016, the National Cancer Database was used to compare demographic and tumor characteristics, as well as survival, by oropharyngeal cancer subsite. HPV-positive BOT patients (N = 13,081) were older than HPV-positive tonsil patients (N = 16,874; mean 61.5 vs 58.4 years), and people 70+ years were significantly more likely to have BOT tumors than people < 50. Patients with BOT were also more likely to be white, male, and have advanced tumor classification. Tonsillectomy was linked to older age and white race among 7,418 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants. HPV-positive tonsil and BOT carcinomas have different epidemiologic and tumor-related characteristics. Tonsillectomy trends may explain demographic differences.