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 .
Prediction of survival by pretreatment health-related quality-of-life scores in a prospective cohort of patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between pretreatment health-related quality -of-life ( HRQOL ) scores and survival in a heterogeneous cohort of patients with newly diagnosed head and neck squamous cell carcinoma ( HNSCC ) . DESIGN Prospect i ve cohort study . SETTING University hospital and referral center in Western Norway . PATIENTS A total of 106 patients with intact cognitive functioning who were younger than 78 years , were diagnosed as having HNSCC , and underwent treatment with curative intent from November 1 , 2002 , through June 30 , 2005 . MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Overall survival and HRQOL scores obtained at the time of diagnosis . RESULTS All dichotomized HRQOL sum scores except the functional score ( P = .20 ) were significantly predictive of survival in univariate analyses . The hazard ratios of the dichotomized general symptom , global quality -of-life , and head and neck sum score were 3.66 , 0.31 , and 2.28 , respectively . All sum scores except the dichotomized functional score remained predictive of survival after sequential adjustment for sociodemographic and clinical characteristics , neuroticism , choice of psychological coping , current smoking and alcohol consumption , and comorbidities . Similar findings were found for specific HRQOL indices of physical functioning , dyspnea , sleep disturbance , appetite loss , swallowing , and social eating from the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer 30-Item Core Quality of Life Question naire , version 3.0 , and the Quality of Life-Head and Neck Cancer Module . Moreover , patients in the highest scoring quartiles for the symptom sum scores and /or the lowest scoring quartile for the global score had overall mortality rates of 50 % to 64 % compared with 23 % to 26 % among the other patients . CONCLUSION The HRQOL sum scores and specific indices among HNSCC patients predict survival independently of established known prognostic factors
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 .