1. Serious Long-Term Effects of Head and Neck Cancer from the Survivors' Point of View.
- Author
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Taylor, Katherine J., Amdal, Cecilie D., Bjordal, Kristin, Astrup, Guro L., Herlofson, Bente B., Duprez, Fréderic, Gama, Ricardo R., Jacinto, Alexandre, Hammerlid, Eva, Scricciolo, Melissa, Jansen, Femke, Verdonck-de Leeuw, Irma M., Fanetti, Giuseppe, Guntinas-Lichius, Orlando, Inhestern, Johanna, Dragan, Tatiana, Fabian, Alexander, Boehm, Andreas, Wöhner, Ulrike, and Kiyota, Naomi
- Subjects
CONFIDENCE intervals ,CROSS-sectional method ,HEAD & neck cancer ,INTERVIEWING ,DEGLUTITION disorders ,HEALTH outcome assessment ,PATIENTS' attitudes ,CANCER patients ,TUMOR classification ,QUALITY of life ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,RESEARCH funding ,LOGISTIC regression analysis ,DATA analysis software ,ODDS ratio ,DISEASE complications - Abstract
The long-term problems of head and neck cancer survivors (HNCS) are not well known. In a cross-sectional international study aimed at exploring the long-term quality of life in this population, 1114 HNCS were asked to state their two most serious long-term effects. A clinician recorded the responses during face-to-face appointments. A list of 15 example problems was provided, but a free text field was also available. A total of 1033 survivors responded to the question. The most frequent problems were 'dry mouth' (DM) (n = 476; 46%), 'difficulty swallowing/eating' (DSE) (n = 408; 40%), 'hoarseness/difficulty speaking' (HDS) (n = 169; 16%), and 'pain in the head and neck' (PHN) (n = 142; 14%). A total of 5% reported no problems. Logistic regression adjusted for age, gender, treatment, and tumor stage and site showed increased odds of reporting DM and DSE for chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) alone compared to surgery alone (odds ratio (OR): 4.7, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.5–9.0; OR: 2.1, CI: 1.1–3.9), but decreased odds for HDS and PHN (OR: 0.3, CI: 0.1–0.6; OR: 0.2, CI: 0.1–0.5). Survivors with UICC stage IV at diagnosis compared to stage I had increased odds of reporting HDS (OR: 1.9, CI: 1.2–3.0). Laryngeal cancer survivors had reduced odds compared to oropharynx cancer survivors of reporting DM (OR: 0.4, CI: 0.3–0.6) but increased odds of HDS (OR: 7.2, CI: 4.3–12.3). This study provides evidence of the serious long-term problems among HNCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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