Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40742566›Full record

ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2025

Pre-radiotherapy multidisciplinary survivorship care and patient-reported outcomes in head and neck cancer survivors.

Fendi Obuekwe, Jinhong Li, Susan M Sereika, Angela L Mazul, Jessica H Maxwell, Kevin J Contrera, Matthew E Spector, Dan P Zandberg, Yvonne M Mowery, Jonas T Johnson and 1 more

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Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Fendi ObuekweUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. kao82@pitt.edu.
Jinhong LiSchool of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Susan M SereikaUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Nursing, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Angela L MazulDepartment of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Jessica H MaxwellDepartment of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Kevin J ContreraDepartment of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Matthew E SpectorDepartment of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Dan P ZandbergMedical Center Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Yvonne M MoweryUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Jonas T JohnsonDepartment of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Marci L NilsenDepartment of Otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeThis study aims to evaluate the association between receiving pre-radiotherapy multidisciplinary survivorship care and patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) pertaining to quality of life (QOL), symptom burden, and psychological distress at one-year post-radiotherapy among head and neck cancer (HNC) survivors.

methodsSurvivors who underwent radiotherapy from 2017-2022 and completed PROMs during their one-year post-radiotherapy visit at a multidisciplinary HNC survivorship clinic were included. Survivors with recurrent disease, second primary tumor, and/or distant metastasis were excluded. Differences in PROMs between propensity score matched survivors who did and did not have a pre-radiotherapy visit were analyzed using multivariable regression models controlling for covariates.

results310 survivors were included (mean [SD] age, 61.09 [9.58] years; 238 [76.8%] male; 159 [51.3%] pre-radiotherapy visit; 163 [52.6%] oropharyngeal; 161 [54.9%] early T stage; 159 [51.5%] early N stage). Compared to survivors without a pre-radiotherapy visit, survivors with a pre-radiotherapy visit had higher physical (+ 7.26 points, 95% CI [3.35, 11.18], p < 0.001) and social-emotional (+ 5.93 points, 95% CI [1.58, 10.29], p = 0.008) QOL scores and lower depression (-1.31 points, 95% CI [-2.61, -0.01], p = 0.048), anxiety (-1.18 points, 95% CI [-2.23, -0.13], p = 0.027), dysphagia (-3.77 points, 95% CI [-6.36, -1.19], p = 0.004), insomnia (-2.76 points, 95% CI [-4.61, -0.92], p = 0.004), and neck disability (-2.28 points, 95% CI [-4.41, -0.16], p = 0.035) scores one-year post-radiotherapy.

conclusionsReceiving pre-radiotherapy multidisciplinary survivorship care was associated with higher QOL and lower symptom burden and psychological distress among HNC survivors. These findings support implementing proactive survivorship care in clinical practice to improve health outcomes in HNC.

Indexed as

Cancer SurvivorsHead and Neck NeoplasmsPatient Reported Outcome MeasuresSurvivorshipAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPsychological DistressQuality of LifeHead and neck cancer (HNC)Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs)Pre-radiotherapyQuality of life (QOL)Survivorship

Identifiers

PMID40742566

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.