Quality of life outcomes of head and neck cancer survivors and their family caregivers at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

Background: A steady increase in the number of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer (HNC) has necessitated the need for further studies on the quality-of-life (QOL) outcomes of these patients and their caregivers. Objective:The study evaluated the QOL of HNC survivors and their family caregivers in a sub-Saharan African tertiary health facility.Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Department and the National Radiotherapy, Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.After consenting to be part of the study, the demographic characteristics of participants were recorded on a data collection form, and their QOL outcomes were evaluated using the World Health Organisation Quality of Life (WHO-QOL) questionnaires.An independent sample t-test was used to analyse the differences in mean score values in QOL.Logistic regression analysis was used to examine factors associated with the overall QOL of patients with HNC.Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated.P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results: A total of 160 patients with HNC and 160 family caregivers participated in this study.The mean ages of the patients and caregivers were 45.1 (SD 15.9) years and 36.2 (SD 13.1) years, respectively.Both HNC patients and their caregivers had a good QOL overall.However, HNC patients had a better QOL compared with their family caregivers (72.12 (SD 19.30) vs. 62.70 (SD 16.6), p = 0.001) in each domain and the overall QOL, except satisfaction with health.A total of 74.4% (n = 119) of patients with HNC had a QOL outcome.Education and the type of treatment received were associated with a good quality of life. Conclusion:Both HNC patients and their caregivers have a good QOL.However, patients with HNC had a better QOL compared with their family caregivers.