Thesis

83 5 Table 1a. Characteristics of patients with HNC for MAT and WST measures Characteristics M0 (n = 101) M3 (n = 92) M6 (n = 92) Repeated measurements M0, M3 and M6 (n = 64) Age (median, IQR) 64.0 (15.5) 64.0 (13.8) 63.5 (13.8) 63.5 (14.0) Sex Male 77 (76.2%) 72 (78.3%) 69 (75%) 49 (76.6%) Female 24 (23.8%) 20 (21.7%) 23 (25%) 15 (23.4%) Tumor site Oropharynx 36 (35.6%) 37 (40.2%) 34 (37.0%) 27 (42.2%) Larynx 29 (28.7%) 24 (26.1%) 25 (27.2%) 16 (25.0%) Oral cavity 27 (26.7%) 24 (26.1%) 26 (28.3%) 17 (26.6%) Hypopharynx 3 (3.0%) 0 (0.0%) 3 (3.3%) 0 (0%) Unknown primary 6 (5.9%) 7 (7.6%) 4 (4.3%) 4 (6.3%) Tumor Stage I 27 (26.7%) 22 (23.9%) 24 (26.1%) 16 (25.0%) II 20 (19.8%) 17 (18.5%) 20 (21.7%) 15 (23.4%) III 13 (12.9%) 13 (14.1%) 12 (13.0%) 6 (9.4%) IV 41 (40.6%) 40 (43.5%) 36 (39.1%) 27 (42.2%) Primary Treatment RT 44 (43.6%) 42 (45.7%) 41 (44.6%) 30 (46.9%) CRT 27 (26.7%) 25 (27.2%) 23 (25.0%) 18 (28.1%) Surgery 20 (19.8%) 16 (17.4%) 19 (20.7%) 11 (17.2%) Surgery with PO(C)RT 10 (9.9%) 9 (9.8%) 9 (9.8%) 5 (7.8%) M0: before treatment, M3: 3 months after treatment, M6: 6 months after treatment CRT: Chemoradiotherapy, IQR: Interquartile Range, PO(C)RT: Post-Operative (Chemo) Radiation, RT: Radiotherapy MAT versus PROs The associations between MAT and subscales of the EORTC QLQ-H&N35 were not statistically significant at M0, M3, and M6 (Table 2). The association between the MAT and subscales of the SWAL-QOL showed weak significant correlations at M0 for the items food selection (Spearman’s ρ=0.347, p=0.001), eating duration (Spearman’s ρ=0.361, p<0.001), fear of eating (Spearman’s ρ=0.336, p=0.001), and total SWAL-QOL score (Spearman’s ρ=0.310, p=0.002). No significant correlations were found at M3 and M6. As example, Figure 2a displays the MAT versus the eating duration at M0. Correlations between the MAT and all items of the EORTC-QLQ-H&N35, SWAL-QOL, and GRIX are shown in Appendix 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjY0ODMw