[Quality of life in long-term oral cancer survivors and comparison with reference values of Spanish people].
OBJECTIVE
Health-related quality of life data are becoming an important supplement to information pertaining to treatment outcome for cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the health-related quality of life of patients undergoing primary surgery for oral squamous cell carcinoma 5 years or more after treatment compared with Spanish general populations norms.


METHODS
Twenty-three oral cancer patients with cancer-free survival after surgery of > 5 years were enrolled. Health-related quality of life was assessed with one standardized questionnaire: the SF-36 Health Survey (Short Form 36). Altogether 23 oral cancer patients (mean age: 55.3 years; 82% male) were included 5 years after surgery.


RESULTS
The oral cancer patients' SF-36 scores did not differ significantly from those of an age- and sex-matched sample from the Spanish normative population, except role-mental and social functioning domains. The patients had better significant results than population norms (Wilcoxon test, p < 0.05) in vitality and health perceptions domains.


CONCLUSIONS
These results provided patient-reported evidence that oral cancer survivors lived with a similar health-related quality of life compared with the general Spanish population. Recruitment is ongoing and a larger cohort in the future will allow further analysis of the trends demonstrated in this cohort.
Herce
Javier
J
Servicio de Cirugía Oral y Maxilofacial-Estomatología, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Seville, Spain. javiherce@yahoo.es
Rollón
Angel
A
Polo
Juan
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000601:surgery*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D011788:Quality of Life; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors