Journal List > J Korean Acad Oral Health > v.41(2) > 1057724

Sohn, Park, Jung, Lee, Lee, and Kim: A study on oral health-related quality of life following radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study was to assess the change in oral health-related quality of life among patients with head & neck cancer who received radiotherapy.

Methods

A total of 40 patients who were diagnosed as having head and neck cancer and scheduled to have radiotherapy were enrolled in this study; however, only 25 patients were included in the final analysis. Prior to radiotherapy, a dentist performed an oral examination to check for the presence of decayed and missing teeth, plaque, and determine the gingival index. Oral health-related quality of life was assessed using the OHIP-14 questionnaire. Eight weeks after starting radiotherapy, oral health-related quality of life was re-evaluated using the same questionnaire.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 60.20 (±7.29) years, and 22 (88.8%) of them were men. The majority of the participants were diagnosed as having squamous cell carcinoma (68.0%). The total OHIP-14 score was significantly decreased from 56.20 (±13.50) at baseline to 45.72 (±10.98) eight weeks after radiotherapy. In addition, according to subjective oral health at baseline, the observed change in the OHIP-14 score was significantly different.

Conclusions

Oral health-related quality of life was significantly lowered after radiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer.

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristic by study population

jkaoh-41-110-i001
Table 2

Comparison the oral health-related of quality of life after radiotherapy

jkaoh-41-110-i002

P-value by paired t-test.

Table 3

Changes in oral health-related quality of life according to general characteristics after radiotherapy

jkaoh-41-110-i003

F and P-values are results of repeated measures ANOVA or T-test.

Table 4

Changes in oral health-related quality of life according to oral status after radiotherapy

jkaoh-41-110-i004

F and P-values are results of repeated measures ANOVA or T-test.

Notes

This research was supported by Kyungpook National University Research Seed Fund, 2016.

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