Abstract
The aim of this paper is to report the clinical characteristic of those patients reporting
“I have too much saliva” following treatment for head and neck cancer. As a new addition
to the saliva question of the University of Washington quality of life questionnaire
(UW-QoL), another aim is to make recommendations on how this new option should be
scored and handled. Patients treated with curative intent were recruited between April
2017 and October 2019. Assessment was at the first baseline clinic a median (IQR)
of 194 (125–249) days after diagnosis and 103 (71–162) days after the end of treatment.
Patients completed the modified UW-QoL version 4, the Patient Concerns Inventory (PCI),
Distress Thermometer, and the EQ-5D-5L. In 288 patients, saliva was of normal consistency
for 80 (28%), less than normal but enough for 57 (20%), too little for 91 (32%), too
much for 45 (16%), and there was no saliva at all for 15 (5%). Of patients with too
much saliva, two-thirds (31/45, 69%) had tumours located in the oral cavity and 18/40
(45%) had the highest rates of free flap use during surgery. Salivation response was
associated strongly with the other measures of health-related quality of life (HRQoL)
and the PCI. Of those with too much saliva their results were similar to or worse
than those with too little or no saliva at all. In conclusion, having too much saliva
is relatively less frequently reported but is an important HRQoL consideration. Its
scoring in the UW-QoL should be at a level similar to that of too little saliva.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 07, 2020
Accepted:
May 28,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
