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. 2024 Jun:153:106813.
doi: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2024.106813. Epub 2024 Apr 30.

Quality of life in 583 head and neck cancer survivors assessed with the FACE-Q head and neck cancer module

Anthony M Tonsbeek  1 , Caroline A Hundepool  2 , Jantien Roubos  2 , Bianca Rijken  3 , Aniel Sewnaik  4 , Gerda M Verduijn  5 , Brend P Jonker  6 , Eveline M L Corten  2 , Marc A M Mureau  2
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Free article

Quality of life in 583 head and neck cancer survivors assessed with the FACE-Q head and neck cancer module

Anthony M Tonsbeek et al. Oral Oncol. 2024 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Objectives: Long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is frequently affected in head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors. Due to the shortage of studies investigating long-term patient-reported outcomes, we investigated long-term HRQOL using the novel FACE-Q HNC Module.

Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional single-center study was performed, including all patients who underwent curative treatment for HNC between 2006 and 2013. All eligible patients (n = 863) were invited to participate of whom 540 completed the questionnaires. Additionally, a prospective longitudinal cohort of 43 HNC patients treated between 2020 and 2022 was included who preoperatively filled in the FACE-Q, and at three, six, and 12 months postoperatively. HRQOL domain scores were analyzed to visualize group characteristics by tumor site and type of surgical resection.

Results: Both surgical and non-surgical HNC treatments predominantly affected long-term functional HRQOL domains (eating, salivation, speech, and swallowing), eating distress, and speaking distress, with distinct profiles depending on tumor site and type of treatment. In contrast, few long-term intergroup differences between HNC patients were observed for appearance, smiling, drooling distress, and smiling distress. Longitudinal data showed significant deterioration across all functional HRQOL domains in the short-term following treatment. Patients predominantly reported long-lasting negative treatment effects at 12 months follow-up for functional domains, whereas psychological domains showed near-complete recovery at group level.

Conclusions: At long-term, various function-related and psychosocial HRQOL domains still are affected in head and neck cancer survivors. The results may serve to better inform patients with regard to specific treatments and highlight HRQOL domains which may potentially be optimized.

Keywords: Head and neck cancer; Quality of life; Reconstruction; Survivorship.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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