A study to find out the association between quality of life of oral cancer patients with selected demographic and clinical variables

Abstract

Oral cancer and its treatment have substantial effect on patients’ quality of life. Less is kwon about the association between quality of life of oral cancer patients with clinical and demographic profiles. Aim: Aim of the present study was to find out the association between quality of life of cancer patients with selected demographic and clinical variables. Methodology: A descriptive survey design was adopted to collect the background information along with the quality of life from the 40 adult oral cancer patients attending the oncology units of a tertiary care hospital. A Hindi version of FACT-H&T (version 4) scale was used for assessing the quality of life. Result: In this study, majority of subjects (32.5%) belong to age group (31-40) years and (51 – 60) years, out of them, (85%) were man. Most of the respondents (27%) found to chew tobacco for maximum period of (11-15) years. The most common site of oral cancer was carcinoma tongue15 (37.5%) and carcinoma buccal mucosa17 (42.5%). Majority 15(37.5%) of the subjects had a disease duration of (0-5 months). Surgery was performed only in 10 (25%) subjects and in rest 30 (75%) were treated conservatively. 4 (40%) Hemiglossectomy was the most commonly performed surgery in this study. Metastasis was seen in only 4 (10%) subjects. 14 (35%) of subjects received radiotherapy and 38 (95%) received chemotherapy as their treatment. The most used drugs were carboplatin 19 (50%), cisplatin 18 (47.4%), and paclitaxel 16 (42.1%). Chronic diseases were seen only in 4 (10%) of subjects. Majority 23(57.5%) of the subjects were in cancer Stage II. There was significant association between radiotherapy and FACT-H&N total score (χ2 value =9.428, df=2) and rest of demographic and clinical variables were not found significant. Conclusion: Majority of study population had habit of tobacco consumption and low literacy level. More research needs for public awareness on this context. The quality of life of oral cancer patient were badly affected and had an average score range.