Health impact of head and neck cancer

A multidimensional Head and Neck Quality of Life (HNQOL) instrument and a g eneral health status measure were administered to 397 patients with head an d neck cancer. Scores for the 4 domains of the HNQOL (communication, eating , pain, and emotional well-being) were calculated. Patient demographics, co morbidities, clinical characteristics, treatment data, disability status, a nd a global "overall bother" score were assessed. When compared with the US population aged 55 to 64 years, the group had significantly worse scores i n the 8 health domains of the SF-36. Patients' overall bother scores from t he head and neck cancer treatment correlated best with the HNQOL emotion do main (r = 0.71) and the HNQOL pain domain (r = 0.63), and least with the pa tients' perception of their response to treatment (r = 0.39). Pain, eating, emotion, physical component summary score, age, and an interaction term be tween eating and emotion were significant predictors for overall bother. Of the 217 patients who were working before the diagnosis of cancer, 74 (34.1 %) reported that they had become disabled. Patients who had more than 1 typ e of treatment were 5.9 times more likely to report themselves as disabled (odds ratio (OR) = 5.94, P < 0.01), even after adjusting for age, emotion s core, and physical component summary score, which were other factors that p redicted disability.