Quality of life changes over time and predictors in a large head and neck patients’ cohort: secondary analysis from an Italian multi-center longitudinal, prospective, observational study—a study of the Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology (AIRO) head and neck working group

Purpose The present study examined the longitudinal trajectories, through hierarchical modeling, of quality of life among patients with head and neck cancer, specifically symptoms burden, during radiotherapy, and in the follow-up period (1, 3, 6, and 12 months after completion of radiotherapy), thro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Supportive care in cancer 2023-04, Vol.31 (4), p.220-220, Article 220
Main Authors: Viganò, Anna, De Felice, Francesca, Iacovelli, Nicola Alessandro, Alterio, Daniela, Ingargiola, Rossana, Casbarra, Alessia, Facchinetti, Nadia, Oneta, Olga, Bacigalupo, Almalina, Tornari, Elena, Ursino, Stefano, Paiar, Fabiola, Caspiani, Orietta, Di Rito, Alessia, Musio, Daniela, Bossi, Paolo, Steca, Patrizia, Jereczek-Fossa, Barbara Alicja, Caso, Letizia, Palena, Nicola, Greco, Andrea, Orlandi, Ester
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cancer
Cancer patients
Chemotherapy
Head & neck cancer
Head and Neck Neoplasms - radiotherapy
Humans
Medical Oncology
Medical research
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Medicine, Experimental
Nursing
Nursing Research
Observational studies
Oncology
Pain Medicine
Papillomavirus Infections
Prospective Studies
Quality of Life
Questionnaires
Radiation therapy
Radiotherapy
Rehabilitation Medicine
Sociodemographics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose The present study examined the longitudinal trajectories, through hierarchical modeling, of quality of life among patients with head and neck cancer, specifically symptoms burden, during radiotherapy, and in the follow-up period (1, 3, 6, and 12 months after completion of radiotherapy), through the M.D. Anderson Symptom Inventory Head and Neck questionnaire, formed by three factors. Furthermore, analyses were conducted controlling for socio-demographic as well as clinical characteristics. Methods Multi-level mixed-effects linear regression was used to estimate the association between quality of life and time, age, gender, household, educational level, employment status, ECOG performance status, human papilloma virus (HPV) status, surgery, chemotherapy, alcohol intake, and smoking. Results Among the 166 participants, time resulted to be a predictor of all the three questionnaire factors, namely, general and specific related symptoms and interference with daily life. Moreover, regarding symptom interference with daily activities factor, HPV-positive status played a significant role. Considering only HPV-negative patients, only time predicted patients’ quality of life. Differently, among HPV-positive patients, other variables, such as gender, educational level, alcohol use, surgery, age at diagnosis, employment status, and ECOG status, resulted significant. Conclusion It was evident that quality of life of patients with head and neck cancer declined during RT, whereas it slowly improved after ending treatment. Our results clarified the role of some socio-demographic and clinical variables, for instance, HPV, which would allow to develop treatments tailored to each patient.
ISSN:0941-4355
1433-7339
DOI:10.1007/s00520-023-07661-2