Table 1.
Patient characteristics of the preceding randomized CCRT trial at in the NKI-AVL of Ackerstaff et al. (usual care) [3] and the randomized CCRT trial at the NKI-AVL of Van der Molen et al. [4] that included a preventive swallowing exercise program (PREP)
| Usual care N = 53 |
PREP N = 37 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Age in years | ||
| Median | 55 | 58 |
| Range | 24-75 | 39-77 |
| Sex | ||
| Male | 36 (68%) | 28 (76%) |
| Female | 17 (32%) | 9 (24%) |
| Stage distribution | ||
| III | 14 (26%) | 14 (38%) |
| IV | 39 (74%) | 23 (62%) |
| Tumour site | ||
| Oral cavity/oropharynx | 16 (43%) | |
| Hypopharynx | 42 (79%) | 15 (41%) |
| Nasopharynx | 11 (21%) | 6 (16%) |
| Follow up | ||
| Pre | Pre | |
| 7 wks | 10 wks | |
| 1-year | 1-year | |
| Tube dependency | ||
| before CCRT | 8 (15%) | 0 (0%) |
| 1-year after CCRT | 13/53 (25%) | 1/37 (3%) |
| Aspiration at 1-year | Unknown | 1/37 (3%) |
| Hospital admission days after completion of CCRT (mean per patient/year) | 4.49 | 3.19 |
| Single day admissions after completion of CCRT (mean per patient/year) | 0.70 | 0.16 |