Quality of Life in Long-Term Oral Cancer Survivors: A Comparison With Spanish General Population Norms

Purpose Health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) data are becoming an important supplement to information pertaining to treatment outcomes for cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the HRQOL of patients undergoing primary surgery for oral squamous cell carcinoma ≥5 years after treatment compared with the Spanish general population norms. Materials and Methods A total of 50 oral cancer patients (mean age 55.78 years, 80% male) with cancer-free survival of ≥5 years after surgery were enrolled. HRQOL was assessed with a standardized questionnaire: the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-Item Health Survey. Results The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-Item Health Survey scores of the oral cancer patients did not differ significantly from those of an age- and gender-matched sample from the Spanish normative population, except for the pain and social functioning domains. The patients had significantly better results compared with the population norms (Wilcoxon test, P Conclusions These results provide patient-reported evidence that oral cancer survivors have a similar HRQOL compared with the general Spanish population. We also believe that it would be necessary to analyze the quality of life ≥5 years after treatment or from the moment the patient was discharged.