Head and Neck Cancer Treatment Erodes Quality of Life
3/18/2008 Little Falls, NJ Judith Groch MedPageToday (www.medpagetoday.com) Although head and neck cancer patients had improved mental health scores a year after diagnosis and treatment, their quality of life, particularly the ability to eat, had declined markedly, a study here found. Treatment, especially a feeding-tube still in place at one year, and the effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, were major factors in diminished quality of life at follow-up, David L. Ronis, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan here, and colleagues reported in the March issue of Archives of Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery. But there was a modest improvement in mental health after a year. Treatments tend to produce pain, disfigurement, and eating and communication problems, the researchers noted. Many patients become disabled, and about one-third continue to smoke, while half are depressed. It is likely, the researchers said, that the improvement in mental health the researchers found is a consequence of low baseline levels because anxiety and depressive reactions to a cancer diagnosis are common. Thus, there may be some "floor effect" for mental well-being that occurs near the time of diagnosis, and patients are likely to improve in most cases. In the survey of more than 300 patients, about 43% of patients with newly diagnosed head and neck cancer had smoked in the month prior to treatment (baseline). Smoking at baseline was highly correlated with decreased quality-of-life scores at baseline and at one year of follow-up, the researchers said. Even after controlling for baseline quality of life, those [...]