Study on relationships between clinical and psychological characteristics and quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer

SHEN Fan; WAN Chong-hua; LUO Jia-hong; LI Zhi-qiang; MENG Qiong; LI Gao-feng

doi:10.13820/j.cnki.gdyx.20231903

Abstract：Objective To analyze the clinical and psychological factors affecting the quality of life(QoL)in head and neck cancer patients and provide evidence for implementing relevant measures to improve their QoL.Methods A self-developed QoL questionnaire for head and neck cancer patients,QLICP-HN(V2.0),was used to survey the QoL of 100 patients.Statistical description and multivariate stepwise regression analysis were employed to analyze the clin-ical and psychological factors influencing the QoL of these patients.Results In the multivariate regression analysis,vom-iting,anxiety,thick saliva,coughing,oral pain,and pain showed statistically significant associations with the overall QoL score(P＜0.05).Anxiety,shortness of breath,and thick saliva were found to have statistically significant impacts on the psychological function domain score of QoL(P＜0.001).Vomiting,sleep difficulty,anxiety,coughing,and thick saliva were associated with statistically significant effects on the physical function domain score of QoL(P＜0.05).Vomiting,irritability,and hoarseness significantly influenced the social function domain score of QoL(P＜0.01).Oral pain,pain,dry mouth,and degree of nausea were statistically significant in relation to the common symptom and side effect domain score of QoL(P＜0.001).Coughing,pain,and oral pain were found to have statistically significant differences in the specific module domain score of QoL(P＜0.001).Conclusion Clinical symptoms such as vomiting,coughing,dry mouth,pain,as well as psychological characteristics like irritability and anxiety can impact the QoL of head and neck cancer patients.Targeted measures to address these factors may potentially enhance the QoL of these patients.