Quality of life in patients younger than 40 years treated for anterior tongue squamous cell carcinoma.
This study investigated the quality of life in patients younger than 40 years with tongue squamous cell carcinoma. We used the University of Washington Head and Neck Quality of Life scale to compare the quality of life outcomes between young and old patients. Cases were patients younger than 40 years who were treated for anterior tongue squamous cell carcinoma. Controls were patients older than 40 years who were matched to the cases regarding diagnosis, sex, and TNM classification. Two controls were matched for each case; thus, 21 cases and 42 controls were selected. Twenty-one of 33 questionnaires (63.6%) were returned. The median follow-up duration was 3.7 years (range, 1-12 y). In the group of young patients, the best-scoring domains were pain, chewing, and swallowing, whereas the lowest scores were for appearance, mood, and anxiety. Young patients (40 years or younger) reported better function, notably regarding activity, recreation, shoulder, taste, and saliva compared with the old patients with anterior tongue squamous cell carcinoma. The patients younger than 40 years tend to have a good quality of life. Most of them were not significantly affected by pain. Quality of life should be used as part of our treatment of anterior tongue squamous cell carcinoma.
From the *Departments of Oromaxillofacial-Head and Neck Surgery, and †Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Stomatology, China Medical University, Shenyang, People's Republic of China.
Xu
X
Zhang
Qi-Gen
QG
Fang
Zhen-Ning
ZN
Li
Wen-Lu
WL
Li
Fa-Yu
FY
Liu
Chang-Fu
CF
Sun
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003679:Deglutition / Q000502:physiology; D004954:Esthetics; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008409:Mastication / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D011998:Recreation; D012463:Saliva / Q000378:metabolism; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult