Table 3.
Summary of articles reporting on dysphagia-related quality of life post NPC.
| Author | Sample size (gender) | Age (years, Mean ± SD) | Tumour staging of participants | Treatment techniques (n) | Main objectives | Outcome measures | Main findings | MMAT quality rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Li et al.41 | 334 (90F:244M) | 51.07 ± 10.07 | Stage I – 5 Stage II – 49 Stage III – 163 Stage IV – 117 |
2D-RT (252), IMRT (82); Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (141); Concurrent chemotherapy (179) | Investigate the swallowing status and its impact on quality of life | VFSS and scores of the WHO quality of life – BREF | Dysphagia as proven by VFSS is negatively correlated to domains of the WHOQOL-BREF | 4/5 |
| Lovell et al.39 | 51 (11F:40M) | 46.0 ± 10 | Stage I-II – 19, Stage III-IV – 32 | RT only (20), C/RT (31) | Determine the impact of dysphagia on QoL in patients treated for NPC | QoL measurements | Swallowing difficulties negatively impacts quality of life in NPC patients | 5/5 |
| Tong et al.40 | 60 (18F:42M) | 34–71 | Not available | Not specified | Explore the perceptions and experiences of swallowing difficulties in NPC patients post-RT | Transcribed interviews on QoL | Informants' concerns focused more on the threat of cancer recurrence, thus paid less attention to the radiation-induced swallowing complication | 4/5 |
NPC: nasopharyngeal cancer; MMAT: Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool; RT: radiation therapy; IMRT: intensity modulated radiation therapy; VFSS: videofluoroscopic swallowing study; WHOQOL-BREF: World Health Organization Quality of life - BREF; C/RT: chemo-radiation therapy; QoL: quality of life.