After an interval of 7 days, the questionnaires were applied again to determine the agreement of responses. Twenty patients were selected to answer the questionnaires. Prior to data collection, a pilot study and training and calibration procedures were conducted. The eligibility criteria were: patients diagnosed with HNC before or during anti-neoplastic treatment (surgery/chemotherapy/radiotherapy) patients over 18 years of age and patients with altered cognitive ability. The STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology) checklist was used to assist in conducting the survey.

All the patients were asked to sign informed consents prior to data collection. Patients were selected consecutively since consecutive sampling is typically better than convenience sampling in controlling sampling bias.Īll the procedures performed in the present study were approved by the Committee of Ethics in Research of the State University of Paraiba, under the protocol number: CAAE 611017.5187 in accordance with Resolution 466/12 of the National Health Council (CNS) and the Declaration of Helsinki. The study region has significant social, economic, and cultural disparities. These institutions are located in Northeastern Brazil and are a reference for about 69 municipalities, covering a population of approximately 1,025,343 inhabitants. Based on the exposed, the present study aimed to measure the impact of OHRQoL of patients with HNC and to evaluate the factors associated.Ī cross-sectional study was conducted with 130 patients under treatment for HNC at two medical centers belonging to the Unified Health System (SUS) between November 2016 and April 2017. In general, patients with tumors in the oral cavity figure amongst the worst indices for the quality of life when compared to patients with tumors in other regions ( 11). In specific, the quality of life-related to oral health (OHRQoL) may be defined as the lack of negative impact of the oral condition on social, psychological and functional activities ( 10). The oral condition has an essential role in the individual’s systemic health ( 9). The assessment of the quality of life in patients with cancer became a valuable tool to investigate the progression of the disease and the effectiveness of the treatment ( 8). Additionally, the therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cancer usually result in collateral effects ( 6, 7). In most of the cases, head and neck tumors may destroy organs that play an important part in daily activities such as eating and speaking ( 5).

In 2012, 300.400 new cases of cancer in the oral cavity and 156.877 new cases of cancer in the larynx were reported in the world ( 1). The oral cavity and the larynx are the most affected regions in the head and neck ( 3, 4). Head and neck cancer (HNC) is ranked 6th in a global scale – with an annual incidence ranging from 400.000 to 700.000 new cases ( 1, 2).

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