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. 2023 Feb;38(1):127-144.
doi: 10.1007/s00455-022-10484-8. Epub 2022 Jul 7.

Affective Symptoms and Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in Head-and-Neck Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review

Iris Krebbers  1   2 , Walmari Pilz  3   4   5 , Sophie Vanbelle  6   7 , Rob J C G Verdonschot  3   8 , Laura W J Baijens  3   4
Affiliations

Affective Symptoms and Oropharyngeal Dysphagia in Head-and-Neck Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review

Iris Krebbers et al. Dysphagia. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is a high impact morbidity in head-and-neck cancer (HNC) patients. A wide variety of instruments are developed to screen for affective symptoms and OD. The current paper aims to systematically review and appraise the literature to obtain insight into the prevalence, strength, and causal direction of the relationship between affective symptoms and OD in HNC patients. This review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA statement. A systematic search of the literature was performed using PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane, and Embase. All available publications reporting on the relationship between affective conditions and swallowing function in HNC patients were included. Conference papers, tutorials, reviews, and studies with less than 5 patients were excluded. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The level of evidence and methodological quality were assessed using the ABC-rating scale and QualSyst critical appraisal tool. Eleven studies reported a positive relationship between affective symptoms and OD. The findings of this paper highlight the importance of affective symptom screening in dysphagic HNC patients as clinically relevant affective symptoms and OD seems to be prevalent and coincident in this population. Considering the impact of affective symptoms and OD on patients' daily life, early detection and an integrated interdisciplinary approach are recommended. However, due to the heterogeneity of study designs, outcomes, and outcome measures, the generalization of study results is limited.

Keywords: Affective symptoms; Anxiety; Deglutition disorders; Depression; Head-and-neck cancer; Oropharyngeal dysphagia.

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Conflict of interest statement

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flowchart of the literature review process
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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