Quality of life and oral and oropharyngeal cancer: reference value

Author(s)

Fabiana Paula de Andrade

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Odontologia (FO/SDO)
• Defense date: 2009-02-06

Examining board members

Jose Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes; Maria Gabriela Haye Biazevic; Paulo Capel Narvai

• Advisor: Jose Leopoldo Ferreira Antunes

Abstract

The self report of quality of life, for patients with head and neck cancer is documented by questionnaires assessing the impact of the disease and its treatment on several physiological, psychological and social domains. This study aimed at assessing reference values for quality of life domains comprised by the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UW-QOL, 4th edition) for persons without cancer, and comparing their answers with results obtained for patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer previoulsly to the primary surgery of tumor resection. A total of 141 patients attended at outpatients units of the Heliópolis Hospital were interviewed to assess reference values for the UW-QOL questionnaire, paired by sex and age with 47 patients hospitalized for surgery of oral and oropharyngeal cancer in the same hospital. Overall and domain specific ratings for QOL can vary from 0 to 100, with higher figures for improved functional status. The overall rating of QOL for patients without cancer was 91.1. This rating was significantly (p<0.01) higher than the corresponding figure for patients affected by cancer, whose global score was 80.6. For patients without cancer, ratings for shoulders, recreation, anxiety and chewing were modified by sex, conjugal status, income, instruction and the self-report of problems in the mouth. The small reduction of reference values, in relation to the maximum parameters that may be assessed (100%) suggests that the questionnaire is specific for head and neck cancer. However, the reduction of QOL for patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer should not be entirely attributed to the disease and its treatment, because nearly 9% of reduction in QOL ratings may be due to other causes associated with the aging process. Pain, appearance, swallowing, speech, taste and anxiety were the QOL domains with ratings significantly lower for patients with oral and oropharyngeal cancer, in the comparison with those not affected by the disease. (AU)