Are head and neck specific quality of life measures necessary?

✍ Scribed by Richard E. Gliklich; Tessa A. Goldsmith; Gerry F. Funk

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 42 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1043-3074
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0347(199709)19:6<474::aid-hed3>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

Background:

The purpose of this study was to determine whether head and neck-specific health status domains are distinct from those assessed by general measures of quality-of-life (qol).

Methods:

Cross-sectional study of 55 head and neck cancer patients in tertiary academic center was made. three head and neck-specific measures,-including the head & neck survey (h&ns); a brief, multi-item test which generates domain scores; and a general health measure,-were administered.

Results:

The h&ns was highly reliable and more strongly correlated to the specific measures than to the general measure. eating/swallowing (es) and speech/communication (sc) were not well correlated with general health domains. head and neck pain was highly correlated to general bodily pain (0.88, p < .0001). despite correlations to some general health domains, appearance (ap) was not fully reflected by any other domain.

Conclusions:

Head and neck-specific qol measures are necessary and should include domains that reflect es, sc, and ap.