Patient characteristics as indicators for poor quality of life after radiotherapy in advanced nasopharyngeal cancer

Background This study aimed to identify the characteristics of patients with advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who experience poor quality of life (QOL) after radiotherapy. Methods Ninety-three Chinese NPC patients were recruited; the patients’ clinicopathological features were collected and QOL, coping mode, psychological distress and performance status were measured prior to and after radiotherapy. Patient symptoms were measured using a 13-point self-reported scale. Results In patients with a symptom score 0.05) in patients without anxiety. In patients with symptom scores <14, regardless of their performance status, the decline in QOL after radiotherapy was larger for patients with anxiety than for patients without anxiety. Multivariate stepwise regression showed that higher symptom score after radiotherapy, poorer performance status and anxiety before radiotherapy were associated with a decline in QOL after radiotherapy. Conclusions Patients who experienced poor QOL after radiotherapy tended to be females; they experienced anxiety before treatment and lacked a positive coping mode. Their QOL may be improved by timely identifying and offering them proper intervention.