Evaluation of quality of life and analysis of influencing factors in patients with hypopharyngeal cancer after operation

Objective To develop a quality of life（QOL） scale for patients with hypopharyngeal cancer after surgery and to evaluate the QOL of patients after surgery,and to analyze the related factors.Methods The QOL scale after hypopharyngeal cancer surgery was developed by referring to the principles and procedures of the QOL scale.A questionnaire survey was conducted among 77 hypopharyngeal cancer patients who underwent surgical treatment for the first time in our department.The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were evaluated.The factors affecting the QOL score were analyzed by multiple linear regression.Results The Chronbach a coeficient and validity of the QOL of hypopharyngeal cancer patients after surgery were 0.882 and 0.807 respectively.Multivariate analysis showed that clinical stage,surgical method,postoperative radiotherapy and lymph node dissection were independent factors affecting the QOL scores（P＜0.05）.Conclusions The reliability and validity of the QOL scales for hypopharyngeal cancer patients after surgery are good,and it can be used to evaluate the QOL after surgery.Clinical stages,surgical methods,postoperative radiotherapy and lymph node dissection are the main factors affecting the QOL of patients after surgery.