Quality of Life of Head and Neck Cancer Patients in Ghana

Objective 1) Investigate quality of life (QOL) of patients undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer at KATH hospital in Ghana. 2) Compare QOL of these patients with a healthy Ghanaian population. 3) Compare QOL for Ghanian patients with QOL of head and neck cancer patients in the United States. Method Data collection is ongoing. We anticipate inclusion of 30 Ghanaian head and neck cancer patients, and 30 healthy Ghanaian controls. Participants complete the FACT‐H+N QOL Question‐naire. Data for patients in the United States are obtained from the FACIT database. Outcome measures include means, medians, standard deviations, and analysis of variance. Results Preliminary results demonstrate lower QOL scores among Ghanaian patients undergoing treatment compared with healthy controls (94.5 vs 111). Patients undergoing treatment also have lower scores for physical well‐being (22.5 vs 26.4), functional well‐being (14 vs 18.5), and head and neck–specific symptoms (20.5 vs 36.4). Ghanaians undergoing treatment had higher scores for emotional well‐being compared with healthy Ghanaians (22 vs 16.1). Initial comparison of the Ghanaian and American treatment groups revealed similar scores for physical well‐being (22.5 vs 18.9) and functional impairment (14 vs 15.3). However, the Ghanaian patients had higher scores for emotional well‐being (22 vs 16.8). Conclusion QOL of Ghanaian head and neck cancer patients is significantly worse than healthy controls. Patients are most affected by physical and functional impairments. Emotional well‐being is not worse for Ghanaians undergoing treatment. Ghanaian patients are similar to Americans in physical and functional well‐being. However, Ghanaian patients demonstrate greater sense of emotional well‐being.