Prospective evaluation of quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate, prospectively, the quality of life of patients with head and neck cancer.

STUDY DESIGN: A quantitative, longitudinal, and prospective study was conducted. The survey instrument was the University of Washington quality of life questionnaire. The sample consisted of 47 patients. For data analysis, paired t test, McNemar test, Student t test, and 1-way analysis of variance tests were used. The significance level was 5% (P < .05).

RESULTS: Mood (68.89 ± 35.41) and anxiety (70.22 ± 32.99) domains were the most affected at the time of diagnosis. Chewing (71.11 ± 39.15) and speech (76.22 ± 33.72) domains were the most affected in the revaluation of the questionnaire, after 3 months. In the temporal assessment of the domains at diagnosis and after 3 months, it was observed that domains that improved quality of life were pain (P = .013) and mood (P = .039). Swallowing (P = .017), chewing (P = .024), speech (P = .048), and saliva (P = .004) domains produced a worse quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS: The parameters that influence quality of life differ when the the University of Washington quality of life questionnaire is applied at the time of diagnosis and 3 months after diagnosis.