Eating ability in head and neck cancer patients after treatment with chemoradiation: a 12-month follow-up study accounting for dropout. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • BACKGROUND: Head and neck cancer patients treated with chemoradiation have difficulty eating a normal diet. This study was designed to characterize eating ability over 12 months after chemoradiation treatment. Analyses take patient dropout into account. METHODS: Two hundred fifty-five patients with head and neck cancer treated with chemoradiation were followed for 12 months. Eating ability was analyzed using generalized linear model methods that accounted for non-ignorable dropout. RESULTS: Eating ability was compromised immediately after treatment and improved over 12 months to near pretreatment levels. Ability to eat at most 50% of the diet orally did not return to baseline levels (p <.05). However, the percent of patients eating a normal diet did return to baseline levels. Accounting for dropout modified the results, but the pattern of significance was similar. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of head and neck cancer with chemoradiation has a significant effect on eating ability, which improves after 12 months after treatment.

publication date

  • December 1, 2003

Research

keywords

  • Eating
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms
  • Patient Dropouts

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 10744228470

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/hed.10317

PubMed ID

  • 14648862

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 25

issue

  • 12