Objective:To investigate the relationship of telomere length with the death risk of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in Chinese Han population. Methods:Relative telomere length (RTL) were measured using Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique in the peripheral blood DNA from 241 cases of HNSCC. Additionally,clinical information and follow-up data were collected for statistical analysis. Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were performed to compare differences of survival time in groups with different RTL. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval were estimated by COX proportional hazards regression model. Results:We categorized HNSCC patients into 3 groups according to tertiles of their relative telomere length and found that the groups with longer relative telomere length had statistically increased mean survival time(40.46 vs. 41.76 vs. 46.18 months,P for trend =0.009). Compared to cases with relative telomere length <1.19,those patients with length >1.49 had significantly decreased death risk (HR:0.40,95% CI:0.20-0.80). However,after the multivariate adjustment,no association was found between RTL and death risk of HNSCC. Conclusion:Relative telomere length may be associated with prognosis of HNSCC patients,but studies with larger samples are needed to further validate such findings.