Effects of a mobile oral care app on oral mucositis, pain, nutritional status, and quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer: A quasi-experimental study.

AIM

The aim of this work is to explore the effectiveness of a mobile app to support oral mucositis care to improve the nutritional status and reduce the occurrence of oral mucositis of patients with head and neck cancer undergoing concurrent chemoradiotherapy.

BACKGROUND

Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is the optimal treatment for head and neck cancer, but oral mucositis and malnutrition are common complications.

DESIGN

Quasi-experimental study using a pre-post design was used in this work.

METHOD

Participants were recruited from a major regional hospital in Taiwan from July 2018 to July 2020. There were 32 participants in each group: the mobile app group (Intervention Group) or routine care (Control Group). The primary outcome measure was Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). We also collected data on grade of oral mucositis, painNnumeric Rating Scale (NRS), weight loss, haemoglobin (Hb), albumin and quality of life (QoL).

RESULT

The PG-SGA score was significantly lower in the intervention than the control group at all three time points. Hb and albumin decreased less significantly in the intervention than the control group after 2 months. The oral mucositis grade was significantly less severe in the intervention than the control group at all three time points; for the NRS, at T2 and T3.

CONCLUSION

Using the mobile app effectively improved nutritional status, alleviated the side effects, and improved the QoL of head and neck cancer patients with concurrent chemoradiotherapy.