Quality of Life, Dysphagia, Voice Problems, Depression, and Anxiety after Laryngectomy

 

Wulff and colleagues from Zealand University Hospital, Køge, Denmark.; determine health-related quality of life (HRQoL), including voice problems, dysphagia, depression, and anxiety after total laryngectomy, and investigate the associations between HRQoL and the late effects.

The 172 participants scored worse than normative reference populations on all scales/itemss, except one, and almost half of the scales/items showed a clinically relevant difference. Moderate/severe dysphagia was present in 46%, moderate/severe voice problems in 57%, depression in 16%, and anxiety in 20%. Younger age, increasing numbers of comorbidities, increasing voice problems, increasing dysphagia, and increasing depression symptoms, were associated with a lowered EORTC QLQ-C30 summary score.

The study illustrated that a substantial proportion of participants experienced clinically significant late effects and increasing levels of these were associated with a lowered HRQoL.