Abstract 921P
Background
Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients face poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL) issues. HRQOL is a self-reported, subjective, multidimensional phenomenon that changes over time. Hence, HRQoL apart from other outcomes such as disease free survival and overall survival has been increasingly being considered an important outcome of future studies. This study aimed to understand the progression of QoL from diagnosis, through treatment and at 3 months after treatment, and to determine main determinants of QOL in locally advanced HNC undergoing radical chemoradiation (CRT).
Methods
It was a prospective study in which 100 consecutive HNC patients undergoing CRT filled Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Head and Neck (FACT-H&N)-V4 questionnaire at pretreatment stage, weekly during CRT and at 3 months after completion of CRT. Data was statistically tested through multivariate analysis of variance and regression modeling to identify the potentially associated factors.
Results
Chemoradiation elicited statistically significant worsening of physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, functional well-being, FACT –G, and FACT- H&N score over time (from pretreatment to end of each successive week, and at 3 months post CRT). Tumor stage and tumor site had the strongest negative impact on patients HRQoL.
Conclusions
HRQoL is a self-reported, subjective, multidimensional phenomenon that changes over time. Regular use of HRQoL questioner can be incorporated in daily clinical practice for head and neck cancer treatment. This will encourage us for holistic care of cancer patients.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.