Wulff and colleagues of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Zealand University Hospital, Køge, Denmark, determine the health-related quality of life , including voice problems, dysphagia, depression, and anxiety after total laryngectomy, and investigate the associations between health-related quality of life and the late effects. Included were 172 participants having undergone a laryngectomy 1.6 to 18.1 years ago for laryngeal/hypopharyngeal cancer.
Participants scored worse than normative reference
populations on all scales/items except one. Moderate/severe dysphagia was
present in 46%, moderate/severe voice problems in 57%, depression in 16%, and
anxiety in 20%. Decreasing age, increasing numbers of comorbidities, increasing
voice problems, increasing dysphagia, and increasing depression symptoms, were
associated with a lowered summary score.
