Affective Disorders and General Health Status in Patients with Total Laryngectomy

Abstract

Introduction: Total laryngectomy (TL) is a procedure that severely affects the patient's quality of life. This study determined the prevalence of general health and affective disorders as an often neglected aspect of cancer care in patients following TL. Methods: This is a cross-sectional case-control study. We enrolled 80 participants into two groups; male patients who had undergone TL due to advanced squamous cell laryngeal cancer from 1 to 3 years ago (n=45) and a control group of healthy individuals (n=35). The DASS-21 and SF-36 questionnaires were used to evaluate participants' affective disorders and general health, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and a p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age of the patients and control group were 57.9±7.7 and 55.4±8.7 years, respectively (p=0.338). The mean scores of general health status were significantly lower in TL patients than in the control group (84.9±13.1 vs. 94.9±8.4, respectively, p=0.011), and the mean scores of overall affective disorders were higher in TL patients than in the control group (40.8±25.1 vs. 26.7±19.0, respectively, p=0.009). Also, we found a significant positive relationship between the prevalence of affective disorders and patients' age (r= 0.46, p=0.004). But there was no correlation between other demographic variables, affective disorders, and general health status. Conclusions: Significant high status of depression and anxiety and lower general health state were seen in TL patients compared with the control group. To enhance patients' quality of life, supporting patients before and after surgery is recommended.