Affective symptoms and swallow-specific quality of life in total laryngectomy patients.

Background: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of clinically relevant affective symptoms and level of swallow-specific quality of life (QoL) in dysphagic patients with total laryngectomy (TL) and to explore the relationship between affective symptoms and swallow-specific QoL.

Methods: Thirty-five TL patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI). Student's t test and linear regression were used.

Results: Eight (23%) patients showed clinically relevant symptoms of anxiety, 8 (23%) of depression, and 11 (31%) showed either one. These groups had significantly lower mean MDADI scores. One-point increase in HADS-anxiety or HADS-depression subscale score corresponds with a decrease of 2.7 or 3.0 points, on average, respectively, of the MDADI total score.

Conclusions: Clinically relevant affective symptoms were present in approximately one-third of the TL patients. These preliminary results show that increased affective symptom scores correlate with a decreased swallow-specific QoL.