Table 3.
EORTC QLQ H&N35 Baseline and AUC Scores for Patients Receiving Placebo vs NAC
| EORTC QLQ H&N35 Scorea |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total AUC During RT | |||||||||
| Baseline AUC (Cycle 0) |
(All Cycles) |
AUC at 3 mo Post RT |
|||||||
| Characteristics | Placebo | NAC | P Valueb | Placebo | NAC | P Valueb | Placebo | NAC | P Valueb |
| Pain | 17.8 | 12.2 | .46 | 32.4 | 32.0 | .95 | 33.3 | 14.6 | .18 |
| Swallowing | 13.7 | 11.1 | .35 | 34.7 | 22.3 | .17 | 27.8 | 8.3 | .23 |
| Teeth problems | 6.7 | 15.4 | .27 | 6.6 | 17.2 | .11 | 5.6 | 8.3 | .88 |
| Opening mouth | 13.3 | 15.4 | .96 | 30.5 | 25.8 | .56 | 16.7 | 16.7 | >.99 |
| Dry mouth | 28.9 | 17.9 | .17 | 44.3 | 48.6 | .66 | 66.7 | 33.3 | .11 |
| Sticky saliva | 13.3 | 10.3 | .46 | 46.3 | 37.9 | .48 | 38.9 | 33.3 | .84 |
| Taste problems | 4.4 | 1.3 | .21 | 27.8 | 29.3 | .78 | 22.2 | 29.2 | .82 |
| Coughing | 24.4 | 20.5 | .53 | 30.9 | 36.7 | .38 | 27.8 | 33.3 | .65 |
| Speech problems | 5.9 | 12.0 | .24 | 17.7 | 22.1 | .52 | 24.1 | 8.3 | .29 |
| Feeling ill | 4.4 | 5.1 | .91 | 23.9 | 24.4 | .96 | 11.1 | 0.0 | .54 |
| Trouble with social contact | 1.8 | 3.6 | .85 | 7.3 | 12.4 | .28 | 11.1 | 1.7 | .69 |
| Trouble with social eating | 8.3 | 8.3 | .82 | 31.8 | 26.7 | .48 | 27.8 | 6.3 | .15 |
| Less sexuality | 10.0 | 19.4 | .12 | 23.9 | 29.9 | .62 | 8.3 | 16.7 | >.99 |
| Use of pain medications | 28.9 | 25.6 | .65 | 31.8 | 47.4 | .18 | 22.2 | 0.0 | .10 |
| Nutritional supplements | 28.9 | 23.1 | .80 | 35.3 | 36.0 | .96 | 13.3 | 16.7 | .66 |
| Feeding tube | 13.3 | 2.6 | .61 | 21.0 | 17.0 | .82 | 33.3 | 0.0 | .28 |
| Weight loss | 28.9 | 25.6 | >.99 | 48.5 | 34.0 | .28 | 27.8 | 16.7 | .91 |
Abbreviations: AUC = area under the curve; EORTC QLQ H&N35 = European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Head and Neck-35 Questions; NAC = N-acetylcysteine; RT = radiotherapy.
a
Lower scores indicate better quality of life.
b
Calculated by equal variance t testing.