title: Assessing and improving quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer.
abstract: Health-related quality of life (QoL) indicates the patients' perception of their health. It depends not only on disease- and treatment-related factors but also on complex inter-relationships of expectations, values and norms, psychologic distress, and comparison with other patients. This article introduces methods and challenges of QoL assessment in patients with head and neck cancer, as well as ways to overcome measurement problems and ways to improve their QoL.
authors.affiliation: From the Division of Epidemiology and Health Services Research, Institute of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, University Medical Centre, Mainz, Germany; Department of Radiation Oncology, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands; Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Sheba Medical Centre, Tel-Hashomer, and Department of Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Langendijk
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yarom
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D010166:Palliative Care; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome