Quality of Life in Oral Cancer Patients in Greek Clinical Practice: A Cohort Study

Abstract

Cancer of the oral cavity is one of the most common cancers all over the world. Oral cancer and its treatment impacts on patients’ Quality of Life (QOL). The purpose of the present study was to assess oral cancer patients’ QOL after the completion of surgical therapy, and to investigate factors affecting it. This was a prospective cohort study, conducted at the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, of a large general public hospital in Northern Greece. The sample consisted of 135 consecutive eligible cancer patients. Three distinct questionnaires were used. The first one included questions regarding the participants’ demographic characteristics and relevant clinical information. The second comprised the European Organization for Research and Treatment core module (EORTC QLQ-C30) and its head and neck module EORTC QLQ-H&N35. The third was the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General (FACT-G) assessment of quality of life. We also included the physician-completed Karnofsky scale to assess the functional status of the participants. We found that location of the tumor affects QOL and specifically social contact (H = 17.89, p = 0.001), on the first assessment, and nutritional supplements (H = 22.49, p = 0.000), on the fourth assessment. QOL in patients deteriorates immediately after treatment but significantly improves over time. Health care professionals should take into account these results and arrange care plans in order to find ways to increase patients’ QOL.

Unravelling Quality of Life for Head and Neck Cancer Patients after VMAT Radiation Therapy: Insights from Toxicity, Dosimetry and Symptoms Correlation

“…It was observed that there is a statistically significant difference between the longitudinal assessments of all Symptom Indexes ( p < 0.0005). The fact that there exists a statistically significant difference in the EORTC-QLQ 30 subscales scores is consistent with the existing literature, reinforcing the established understanding in the field [ 15 ].…”

Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and Quality of Life Aspects in Patients with Recurrent/Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)

“…The present results demonstrated the highest impairment in the burden of illness domain, indicating a high burden due to the cancer disease, which is in line with previous reports [74]. In this present study population, a high symptom burden correlated with high frailty and comorbidity, which are associated with the adverse side effects of the primary therapy, restricted oral functions, and impaired oral rehabilitation ability [78]. In the present results, this is supported by the highest burden in patients with the need for prosthetic treatment and RCL 4.…”

Quality of life and its related-influencing factors in patients with cervical cancer based on the scale QLICP-CE(V2.0)

“…In terms of ethnicity, Han nationality was the most affected in this study, followed by other minority groups, which could be related to the fact that most of the local permanent residents were Han. In terms of pathological types of cervical cancer, there were also differences among different countries and nationalities, but the differences were not significant [18,19]. Among the subjects of this survey, squamous cell carcinoma accounted for a large proportion (72.6%), which was consistent with the fact that squamous cell carcinoma was also the most common cancer in China [20,21].…”