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Purpose: To study the 10-year overall survival predictions, and mechanisms behind, of head and neck (HN) quality of life (QoL) scores obtained at diagnosis and 6, 9, and 12 months following diagnosis in a cohort of HN squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients., Methods: Consecutive HNSCC patients (N = 109) subjected to standard workup and treatment self-reported their QoL measured by the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ) H&N-35 between November 2002 and June 2005. Each QoL index was calculated and additionally aggregated to one sum score. The included patients were at diagnosis younger than 78 years, judged adequately cognitive functioning, and scheduled for curative treatment. Self-reported smoking, alcohol consumption, and socio-demographic information were registered. Twenty-two patients were high-risk (hr)-HPV DNA tumor positive. If the treatment goal was changed to palliative, no new QoL information was collected. All living patients were followed until 10 years after diagnosis., Results: Median survival was 105 months. Significant overall survival predictions were found from the EORTC H&N-35 QLQ sum scores continuously measured at diagnosis (p = 0.006) and obtained at 6 (p = 0.02), 9 (p = 0.002) and 12 (p = 0.05) months. Lower QoL predicted lower overall survival. These sum score survival predictions were in part independent of TNM stage, hr-HPV status, gender, age, alcohol and smoking status. The indices "pain", "swallowing", "social eating", and "feeling ill" were predictive of survival at 3 out of 4 measuring points (diagnosis, 6, 9 and 12 months) in univariate analyses., Conclusion: EORTC H&N-35 QLQ scores at diagnosis and throughout the first year thereafter harbor prognostic power.

Background: Difficulty in following and understanding conversation in different daily life situations is a common complaint among persons with hearing loss. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no published validated Norwegian questionnaire available that allows for a self-assessment of unaided communication ability in a population with hearing loss., Purpose: The aims of the present study were to investigate a questionnaire for the self-assessment of communication ability, examine the psychometric properties of this questionnaire, and explore how demographic variables such as degree of hearing loss, age, and sex influence response patterns., Research Design: A questionnaire based on the subscales of the Norwegian translation of the Abbreviated Profile of Hearing Aid Benefit was applied to a group of hearing aid users and normal-hearing controls., Study Sample: A total of 108 patients with bilateral hearing loss, and 101 controls with self-reported normal hearing., Data Collection and Analysis: The psychometric properties were evaluated. Associations and differences between outcome scores and descriptive variables were examined. A regression analysis was performed to investigate whether descriptive variables could predict outcome., Results: The measures of reliability suggest that the questionnaire has satisfactory psychometric properties, with the outcome of the questionnaire correlating to hearing loss severity, thus indicating that the concurrent validity of the questionnaire is good., Conclusions: The findings indicate that the proposed questionnaire is a valid measure of self-assessed communication ability in both quiet and adverse listening conditions in participants with and without hearing loss., (American Academy of Audiology)

Objectives: Patients with voice-related disorders are often treated by a multidisciplinary team including assessment by patient-reported outcome measures. The present paper aims at documenting the importance of including general health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures to clinical investigations., Study Design: The participants (N = 80 larynx cancer, N = 32 recurrent palsy, N = 23 dysfunctional, N = 75 degenerative/inflammation, N = 19 various) were included consecutively at the laryngology clinic at Haukeland University Hospital. In addition, HRQoL data were included from one national group with laryngectomies (N = 105), one group with various patients formerly treated for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (N = 96), and one population-based reference group (N = 1956)., Method: Obtained were the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ), the Voice Handicap Index (VHI), and the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) neuroticism scores., Results: By analysis of variance, we have determined significant dependence of groups analyzing the sum global QoL/health index (F = 9.47; P <0.001), the functional HRQoL sum score (F 5,2373  = 7.14, P <0.001), and the symptom sum HRQoL scores (F 7,2381  = 8.13; P <0.001). In particular, patients with recurrent palsy and laryngeal cancer had lowered HRQoL. At the index levels, in particular dyspnea scores, were scored depending on larynx disease group (F 7,2288  = 24.4; P <0.001). The VHI score correlated with the EORTC H&N35 "speech" index with a common variance of 52%. VHI scores correlated with level of neuroticism with 8% common variance (P <0.001) and EORTC scores with 22% (P <0.001)., Conclusion: In particular, among patients with voice-related disease, those with recurrent palsy and laryngeal cancer had lower HRQoL. Furthermore, the HRQoL and VHI scores were inversely tied to neuroticism., (Copyright © 2017 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Studying health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following cancer treatment has become part of a growing number of standardized treatment protocols. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) has developed HRQoL questionnaires aimed at cancer patients. A disease-specific part is not available for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients, and the present aim was to develop an EORTC-compatible RCC-specific HRQoL questionnaire., Material and Methods: In total 413 RCC patients were treated with radical or partial nephrectomies in Western Norway during the period from 1997 to 2010. Three hundred and nine patients with histologically proven cancer were still alive at the inclusion time point and 185 RCC patients (71% response rate) returned the questionnaires. We determined HRQoL by the EORTC-QLQ C30 questionnaire. We also asked 13 candidates questions aimed at constituting a disease-specific part. Furthermore, we tested parts of personality by the Eysenck Personality Inventory and coping by the COPE questionnaire. Given tumor treatment, TNM stage, alcohol consumption level and smoking levels were also determined from the hospital records., Results: A factor analysis showed that five factors were formed: one general symptomatic, one general functional, one with disease-specific questions (flank pain, blood in the urine, flank edema, urinary tract infection), one about sexuality and one about weight loss or gain. Ten RCC-specific HRQoL questions were derived from a factor analysis, including four questions related particularly to pain, mobility and social functioning, also representing a short version of the EORTC C30. The psychometric properties and the relation to other psychological and clinical variables were further determined to be satisfactory., Conclusions: The suggested disease-specific EORTC-QLQ-style RCC10 version adds important information about the HRQoL of RCC patients, providing additional apparent value to the general questionnaire and personality variables, as well as being psychometrically satisfactory. The questionnaire has a potential as a "stand alone" HRQoL questionnaire among RCC patients.

Objective: To examine the survival prediction of long-term health-related quality of life in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma., Design: Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma diagnosed in the period between July 1992 and October 2001, who had been disease free for a minimum of 1 year following therapy, responded to structured interviews including several validated questionnaires in the period from October 2002 to March 2004. The study ended in June 2009 with a mean observation time of 75 ± 4 months among the survivors. Twenty-four deaths were observed., Setting: University hospital, referral centre of the Western Norway., Participants: One hundred and thirty-nine cognitive functioning patients., Main Outcome Measurements: Overall survival as of June 2009. This was correlated with various clinical factors and the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, the Eysenck Personality Inventory and the Coping inventory completed between October 2001 and March 2004., Results: A general symptom sum score was significantly predictive of survival directly and after sequential adjustment for self-reported levels of neuroticism, avoidance focused coping, coping by suppression of competing activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status and heart/lung disease, as well as gender, age, time between diagnosis and inclusion, tumour node metastasis (TNM) stage and tumour site. Similar results were found for the health-related quality of life indices 'fatigue', 'dyspnoea' and 'sleep disturbance'. A dichotomised variable based on the general symptom sum score was calculated, and a high risk group, as to mortality, including less than a quintile of the total patient population was established. A hazard ratio of 5.15 was found for the dichotomised general symptom sum score., Conclusion: We have shown a unique and independent survival prediction from long-term EORTC QLQ-C30 scores in successfully treated and cognitive functioning head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)