Evaluation of the quality of life of patients with oral cancer in Brazil

Abstract

This study performed a field trial of a Portuguese version of the University of Washington quality of life questionnaire (UW-QOL, 3rd version), aiming at appraising its ability to identify different patterns of health-related quality of life of patients with oral cancer in Brazil. Patients (N = 100) were interviewed as they were undergoing treatment for oral squamous cell carcinoma at a large Brazilian hospital ("Hospital das Clínicas", School of Medicine, University of São Paulo). The results were compared based on categories of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients. At a one-year follow-up, 20 patients had died, and 24 were considered dropouts. The remaining patients accounted for the longitudinal assessment of modifications in the self report of quality of life. Patients with larger tumours and neoplasms in the posterior part of the mouth presented significantly (p < 0.05) poorer indications of quality of life. Chewing was the poorest rated domain (35.0/100.0), and presented the highest proportion of complaints both at the baseline and at the follow-up assessments. The questionnaire allowed the identification of important contrasts (while comparing clinical characteristics) and similarities (while comparing socio-demographic status) among subsets of respondents, and it can contribute to reduce the impact of treatments and improve subsequent patient management.

Validade discriminante do questionário de qualidade de vida da Universidade de Washington no contexto brasileiro

“…The specific scores that were significantly higher in patients without cancer indicate the domains most affected by disease (pain, appearance, swallowing, chewing, speech, shoulders, taste and anxiety), which corroborates assessments done previously in the domestic scenario 18,19 . This observation also suggests that these were the quality of life domains that contributed most to the discriminant validity of the questionnaire.…”

Epidemiologic profile and quality of life of patients treated for oral cancer in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…The tongue was the predominant anatomical location (37.5%), also in accordance with recent studies (4,6, 8-10, 12,17,18). Some studies on oral cancer (2,3,5,14) have reported regularly reduced scores for the global status of quality of life for up to 5 years after treatment, chiefly when there is combination therapy (surgery plus radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy). In this study most patients (56.3%) received combination therapy, there being no statistically significant differences in the final TOI (p=0.933), FACT-G (0.673) and FACT-HN (p=0.820) indices as for measurement of quality of life.…”

“…Although cure can be achieved in as many as 60% of the cases, this does not necessarily mean improvement of the quality of life, the latter being a great challenge for oncology (1). Questionnaires on quality of life in cancer are successfully used to assess health status, therapy efficacy and patients functional status and well-being (2). Because such assessments are not routinely done in the country, there is a paucity of Brazilian studies about this topic.…”

Oral cancer public policies: is there any evidence of impact?

“…Some studies strongly suggest that oral-related quality of life should be adopted as a standard criterion in hospital settings for the evaluation of oral cancer patients. 9 Oral cancer "campaigns", mouth self-examination and screening for oral cancer: any evidence of effectiveness?…”