Characterization of health-related quality of life based on the EQ-5D-5L questionnaire in head-and-neck cancer patients undergoing modern radiotherapy

ABSTRACT

Background: Patient-reported quality of life in cancer patients is becoming increasingly important, especially for head-and-neck (H&N) cancers, which are at risk of experiencing severe treatment-related toxicities. Therefore, we sought to characterize the peritherapeutic HRQOL of contemporary patients using the well-validated EQ-5D-5 L questionnaire.

Methods: All patients receiving radiotherapy for H&N cancers between July 2019 and November 2019 at the University of Freiburg Medical Center who completed the first two follow-ups were included.

Results: All 49 patients completed the questionnaires at all time points of data collection, yielding 196 total questionnaires. The mean EQ-5D-5 L index score of the overall population before radiotherapy, after radiotherapy, and three and six months following radiotherapy was 0.837 (standard deviation, SD 0.17), 0.828 (SD 0.16), 0.855 (SD 0.15), and 0.856 (SD 0.14) respectively. The respective mean EQ VAS scores were 63.88 (SD 20.72), 63.67 (SD 21.81), 63.67 (SD 21.81), and 65.20 (SD 22.41) respectively. The respective changes of the HI and EQ VAS score over time for this cohort were not significant (Friedman test p = 0.273, p = 0.618).

Conclusion: Despite the known therapy-related toxicities, no significant permanent deterioration of HRQOL in this cohort was observed.

KEYWORDS:

• Head-and-neck cancer
• eq-5D-5L questionnaire
• radiotherapy
• qaly

Authors’ contributions

T.S., D.K.T.: Study conception and study design. T.S.: Data acquisition and data analysis. T.S.: Statistical analysis, data interpretation, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing. T.S., C.Z., V.V., A.L.G., N.H.N., J.L., D.K.T: Critical discussion of the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

Not applicable.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The study was approved by the institutional ethical review committee (reference no. 389/19).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and material

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary materials

Supplementary data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.