Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40975748›Full record

ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2025

Oral health-related quality of life among long-term head and neck cancer survivors: a multinational study.

Kristine Løken Westgaard, Cecilie Delphin Amdal, Katherine J Taylor, Ragnhild Sørum Falk, Kristin Bjordal, Susanne Singer, Eva Hammerlid, Max Krüger, Carmen Stromberger, Orlando Guntinas-Lichius and 5 more

Erratum issuedAbstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Kristine Løken WestgaardDepartment of Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Postbox 1109 Blindern, N-0317, Oslo, Norway. k.l.westgaard@odont.uio.no.
Cecilie Delphin AmdalDepartment of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Katherine J TaylorInstitute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, University Medical Centre Mainz, Langenbeck, Germany.
Ragnhild Sørum FalkResearch Support Services, Oslo University Hospital Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Kristin BjordalResearch Support Services, Oslo University Hospital Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
Susanne SingerDepartment of Quality of Life in Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Center Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (CCC-MV), University Medical Centre Rostock, Campus Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Eva HammerlidDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Max KrügerDepartment of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery - plastic Surgery, University Medical Centre Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
Carmen StrombergerDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Germany, Berlin, Germany.
Orlando Guntinas-LichiusDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany.
Fréderic DuprezDepartment of Radiotherapy-Oncology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Noa StemplerOral Medicine Unit, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
Noam YaromOral Medicine Unit, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
Erofili PapadopoulouDepartment of Oral Medicine and Pathology and Hospital Dentistry, Dental Oncology Unit, Dental School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
Bente Brokstad HerlofsonDepartment of Oral Surgery and Oral Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Postbox 1109 Blindern, N-0317, Oslo, Norway.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeOur aim was to investigate oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and toxicities in long-term head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors diagnosed ≥five years earlier.

methodsHNC survivors treated between 2007 and 2013 participated in an international cross-sectional study. They completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) core quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and the oral health module (EORTC QLQ-OH15) and attended a hospital examination. Clinicians scored toxicities using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0. OHRQoL was analyzed based on four types of treatment: surgery, radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy without surgery and surgery with postoperative (chemo) radiotherapy. Survivors were divided into three groups according to the EORTC QLQ-OH15 oral health-QoL scale score; the lowest (defined as poor OHRQoL), middle and highest tertile.

resultsEleven sites in six countries enrolled 404 HNC survivors. The median time since diagnosis was 8.4 years, the mean age was 66 years and 67% were male. A total of 116 (29%) of the survivors reported poor OHRQoL. They were more often females and survivors with advanced disease. The survivors with poor OHRQoL also had more toxicity: dysphagia, trismus, osteonecrosis of the jaw, oral pain and dry mouth. There were no clinically significant differences in OHRQoL between the four treatment groups.

conclusionOur study showed that the survivors who reported poor OHRQoL also had a high level of late toxicity. This highlight the need for improved follow-up of the oral health of HNC survivors many years after initial treatment, especially for women and those who were treated for advanced disease.

Indexed as

Cancer SurvivorsHead and Neck NeoplasmsOral HealthQuality of LifeSurvivorsAdultAgedAged, 80 and overChemoradiotherapyCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedSurveys and QuestionnairesCross-sectionalHead and neck cancerOral health-related quality of lifeOral late effectsSurvivor

Identifiers

PMID40975748
PMCPMC12450221

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.