The relationship between dental status and health-related quality of life in upper aerodigestive tract cancer patients

Abstract

Although the oral sequelae of treatments for upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancers have been well described, very little is known about the relationship between dental status and health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with UADT cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that dental status is a predictor of HRQL in a sample of post-therapeutic UADT cancer patients. A cross-sectional study design was used with a sample of 188 subjects. HRQL was evaluated through the global domain of the EORTC QLQ-C30 instrument and data were collected on sociodemographic, disease, treatment and dental status variables. Linear multiple regression analysis was used to determine those variables with a significant independent association with the HRQL. Two multivariate models were developed each containing age, gender, employment status, cancer site and disease stage, plus either the dental status category "partially dentate with no prosthesis" (P/NP) (F-value for model = 7.31; P < 0.0001; r2 = 0.20) which predicted a significantly worse HRQL, or the dental status category "edentulous with prostheses" (E/WP) (F-value for model = 7.56; P < 0.0001; r2 = 0.20) which predicted a significantly better HRQL. Furthermore, the P/NP group reported significantly more "problems with their teeth" (ANOVA, P = 0.0004), significantly more "trouble eating" (ANOVA, P = 0.024) and significantly more "trouble enjoying their meals" (ANOVA, P = 0.01). Although the cross-sectional nature of the data collection and the somewhat crude nature of the dental status variable limit inferences, the results of this study suggest that dental status has an important effect on HRQL in post-therapeutic UADT cancer patients.