Xerostomia After Treatment for Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Using the University of Washington Saliva Domain and a Xerostomia-Related Quality-of-Life Scale

Journal Article · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2009.04.021· OSTI ID:21372234

Johnson, Ian A ^[1]; Lowe, Derek ^[2]

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1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Liverpool, Liverpool (United Kingdom)
2. Evidence-Based Practice Research Centre, Faculty of Health, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk (United Kingdom)

Purpose: The first aim of this study was to identify which clinical factors are associated with xerostomia in patients after treatment for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, using the Xerostomia-Related Quality-of-Life Scale (XeQoLS) and the University of Washington Quality-of-Life Questionnaire Version 4 dry mouth item (UW-QOL v4). The second aim was to compare these two questionnaires and postulate a cutoff in the UW-QOL below which patients are doing sufficient badly to warrant further evaluation and support. Methods and Materials: In all, 371 patients alive and disease free treated between 1992 and 2005 were sent the survey, of whom 250 (67%) responded. Various clinical factors correlated with xerostomia, particularly adjuvant radiotherapy and Pstage. Results: In logistic regression analyses to predict three or more problems on the XeQoLS, only adjuvant radiotherapy (p < 0.001) was significant at the 5% level. There were significant (p < 0.001) correlations between the XeQoLS scores (total average and domain) with all the UW-QOL domain scores, the strongest with swallowing (-0.69), taste (-0.64), chewing (-0.64), mood (-0.60), and saliva (-0.59) domains. Patients scoring <70 (i.e., 0 or 30) on the UW-QOL could be used as a screening cutoff because it formed 1 in 5 of all patients (49/242) but accounted for half (299/566) of the significant problems generated by the XeQoLS. This also identified 13/21 patients with 10 or more problems. Conclusion: The UW-QOL saliva domain seems to be a suitable means of screening for dry mouth in head-and-neck clinics and could be used to trigger interventions.

• OSTI ID: 21372234
• Journal Information: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, Vol. 77, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2009.04.021; PII: S0360-3016(09)00589-6; Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; ISSN 0360-3016
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
CARCINOMAS
HEAD
NECK
ORAL CAVITY
PHARYNX
RADIOTHERAPY
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
SALIVA
SCREENING
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BODY
BODY FLUIDS
DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
DISEASES
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICS
MEDICINE
NEOPLASMS
NUCLEAR MEDICINE
ORGANS
RADIOLOGY
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
STATISTICS
THERAPY