Randomized trial assessing the impact of routine assessment of health‐related quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer

Oumar Billa, Franck Bonnetain, Jérôme Chamois, Angeline Ligey, Valérie Ganansia, Georges Noel, Sophie Renard, Sophie Maillard, Magali Quivrin, Noémie Vulquin, Pierre Truntzer, Tienhan Sandrine Dabakuyo‐yonli, Philippe Maingon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The impact of routine assessment of health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) on satisfaction with care and the HRQoL of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) treated with radiotherapy was assessed. Patients with HNC were randomly assigned to two arms, with stratification on sex, cancer localization, and stage of the disease. In the intervention arm, the patients completed the EORTC QLQ‐C30 and EORTC QLQ‐H&N35 questionnaires first before randomization, then before each medical appointment during radiotherapy (7 weeks), and then every 3 months until 1 year and at 2 years thereafter. In the control arm, the EORTC QLQ‐C30 and EORTC QLQ‐H&N35 questionnaires were completed before randomization and at 1 year and 2 years thereafter. The primary endpoint was mean change in HRQoL at score at 2 years from baseline assessed by EQ VAS from the EuroQol questionnaire. The secondary endpoint was mean change in satisfaction with care at 2 years from baseline assessed by QLQ‐SAT32. Two hundred patients with head and neck cancers were involved in this study (mean age, 58.83 years (range, 36.56–87.89)), of whom 100 were assigned to the intervention arm and 100 to the control arm. Patients in the intervention arm were reported to have a statistically significant increase in EQ VAS at 2 years (p < 0.0001) and exceeded the minimal clinically important difference (mean change at 2 years from baseline = 10.46). In the two arms, mean differences between arms were not statistically significant, but minimal clinically important differences in favor of the intervention arm were found for EQ VAS (mean change difference (MD) = 5.84), satisfaction with care, in particular waiting times (MD = 10.85) and satisfaction with accessibility (MD = 6.52). Routine assessment of HRQoL improves HRQoL and satisfaction with care for patients with HNC treated with radiotherapy.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number3826
JournalCancers
Volume13
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2021

Funding

Funding: This study was supported by the cancer league of the departmental committee of Bourgogne Franche‐Comté and the cancer league of the departmental committee of Haute Saone.

Keywords

  • Head and neck cancer
  • Quality of life
  • Routine assessment

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Randomized trial assessing the impact of routine assessment of health‐related quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this