Jodalli Praveen, Raju Arya, Basheer N Amitha
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Manipal College of Dental Sciences Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
Dental Surgeon, Yenepoya Dental College, Yenepoya Deemed to be University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
Contemp Oncol (Pozn). 2022;26(2):97-101. doi: 10.5114/wo.2022.116275. Epub 2022 May 12.
Patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer are often subjected to an array of unprecedented challenges, which have seldom been scrutinized in other cancers, such as prolonged restrictions in their capaci-ty to breathe, speak, and swallow, considerable deformity, and an alleviated risk of death. These predicaments have consequential repercussions on the psychological well-being of patients, and they debilitate the mental, social, and financial facet of not only the patient's but also of the caregiver's lives, placing them in a state of constant uncertainty while also deteriorating their physical and mental health. Aim of the study was to assess the burden on the caregiver and their quality of life (QOL) using the Caregiver Quality of Life Index-Cancer (CQOLC) scale by comparing the sali-vary cortisol levels of caregivers at different intervals of the radiotherapy session.
The current study was a prospective cohort study conducted on 28 caregivers of patients undergoing radiotherapy, aged 15 years and more. The entire collection of saliva samples of each of the caregivers was collected on day 1, day 14, and day 21 of the radiotherapy session while simultaneously handing out the CQOLC for them to fill out. The samples were later analysed using an ELISA kit to measure the cortisol levels.
On day 1 the QOL score was 1.97 ±0.28, on day 14 the QOL score was 2.53 ±0.31, and on day 21 the QOL score was 3.15 ±0.26, with a -value of 0.0001 over the entire session. There was no statistically significant change in the salivary cortisol level. < 0.05 is considered statistically significant.
The assessed quality of life portrayed a progressive decline over the calculated period, concluding that the radiotherapy sessions of the patients subjected the caregivers to distress. It was also found that the males had a noteworthy diminution in QOL compared to the females; however, there was no signifi-cant change in the cortisol level over the calculated period.
被诊断患有头颈癌的患者常常面临一系列前所未有的挑战，而这些挑战在其他癌症中很少受到审视，例如呼吸、说话和吞咽能力长期受限、严重畸形以及死亡风险增加。这些困境对患者的心理健康产生了相应的影响，并且不仅削弱了患者本人，还削弱了照顾者生活中的精神、社会和经济层面，使他们处于持续的不确定状态，同时还损害了他们的身心健康。本研究的目的是通过比较放疗疗程不同阶段照顾者的唾液皮质醇水平，使用照顾者生活质量指数-癌症（CQOLC）量表评估照顾者的负担及其生活质量（QOL）。
本研究是一项前瞻性队列研究，对28名年龄在15岁及以上、正在接受放疗患者的照顾者进行。在放疗疗程的第1天、第14天和第21天收集每位照顾者的全部唾液样本，同时发放CQOLC让他们填写。样本随后使用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）试剂盒进行分析以测量皮质醇水平。
第1天的生活质量评分是1.97±0.28，第14天是2.53±0.31，第21天是3.15±0.26，整个疗程的P值为0.0001。唾液皮质醇水平没有统计学上的显著变化。P<0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
所评估的生活质量在计算期内呈现出逐渐下降的趋势，得出结论是患者的放疗疗程使照顾者感到痛苦。还发现与女性相比，男性的生活质量有显著下降；然而，在计算期内皮质醇水平没有显著变化。
