Functional and cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms and social isolation are highly prevalent in head and neck cancer patients and associate with high risk of adverse health outcomes .
OBJECTIVES Older head and neck cancer patients are at increased risk for adverse health outcomes , but little is known about which geriatric assessment associates with poor outcome .
The aim is to study the association of functional or cognitive impairment , social environment and frailty with adverse health outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer .
Health-related quality of life in head and neck cancer survivors: impact of pretreatment depressive symptoms.
OBJECTIVE Symptoms of depression are common in those with cancer . The authors investigated whether depressive symptoms assessed before the initiation of cancer treatment predicted diminished health-related quality of life ( HRQOL ) at follow-up . DESIGN As part of a large , prospect i ve study of oncologic outcomes , 306 patients with head and neck cancer ( HNC ) were assessed on several clinical and psychosocial characteristics during a pretreatment clinic visit and then at 3- and 12-month follow-up appointments . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Depressive symptomatology was assessed with the  Beck Depression Inventory  and HNC-specific HRQOL ( main outcome measure ) was assessed with the  Head and Neck Cancer Inventory .  RESULTS Controlling for age , gender , marital status , cancer site , stage of disease , alcohol and tobacco use , comorbidity status , and pretreatment HRQOL , simultaneous multiple regression analyses revealed that depressive symptoms present at study enrollment , before the initiation of cancer treatment , significantly predicted lower HRQOL at 3- and 12-month follow-up assessment s across the 4 HNC-specific domains of speech , eating , aesthetics , and social disruption ( all ps < or= .01 ) . CONCLUSION Results suggest that depressive symptomatology present near the time of diagnosis can have a significant , deleterious impact on HRQOL over time in HNC survivors . Thus , it may be useful to assess depression at diagnosis to identify individuals at greater risk for poor HRQOL outcomes
Functional and cognitive impairment , depressive symptoms and social isolation are highly prevalent in head and neck cancer patients and associate with high risk of adverse health outcomes .
OBJECTIVES Older head and neck cancer patients are at increased risk for adverse health outcomes , but little is known about which geriatric assessment associates with poor outcome .
The aim is to study the association of functional or cognitive impairment , social environment and frailty with adverse health outcomes in patients with head and neck cancer .