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Table 3 Changes of quality of life for 104 NPC patients treated by IMRT or VMAT with completions of all questionnaires at the four time points

From: Quality of life and survival outcome for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated by volumetric-modulated arc therapy versus intensity-modulated radiotherapy

All

ti1

ti2

ti3

ti4

p-value

EORTC QLQ-C30

 Global quality of Life

53†‡§

34¶※

56#

67

< 0.01

 Physical functioning

92†‡

81¶※

88

92

< 0.01

 Role functioning

92†‡

70¶※

88

93

< 0.01

 Emotional functioning

79†‡

72¶※

85

85

< 0.01

 Cognitive functioning

85

77¶※

85

85

< 0.01

 Social functioning

75†§

66¶※

77#

87

< 0.01

 Fatigue

21†‡

46¶※

29#

18

< 0.01

 Nausea and vomiting

8

42¶※

12

7

< 0.01

 Pain

16

39¶※

15

13

< 0.01

 Dyspnea

8

11

8

6

NS

 Insomnia

26

32¶※

21

22

< 0.01

 Appetite loss

14†‡

62¶※

28#

13

< 0.01

 Constipation

12

27¶※

18

17

< 0.01

 Diarrhea

11

12

10

8

NS

 Financial difficulties

21

22

22

18

NS

EORTC QLQ-HN35

 Pain

5†‡

40¶※

12

7

< 0.01

 Swallowing

5†‡§

42¶※

20

16

< 0.01

 Senses (taste/smell)

8†‡§

51¶※

29#

17

< 0.01

 Speech

6†‡§

27¶※

16

13

< 0.01

 Social eating

4†‡§

48¶※

22#

11

< 0.01

 Social contact

4†‡

20¶※

10

6

< 0.01

 Sexuality

13†‡§

40¶※

25

22

< 0.01

 Teeth

27

29

26

27

NS

 Opening mouth

4†‡§

22¶※

16

16

< 0.01

 Dry mouth

20†‡§

62¶※

54#

44

< 0.01

 Sticky saliva

16†‡§

61¶※

45#

34

< 0.01

 Coughing

18

22

18

19

NS

 Feeling ill

24

55¶※

27

22

< 0.01

  1. Analysis by multivariate ANOVA for repeated measures; IMRT Intensity modulated radiotherapy, VMAT Volumetric modulated arc therapy; ti1: before RT; ti2: RT 42.4 Gy; ti3: 3 months after RT; ti4: 12 months after RT; †: p < 0.05, ti1 vs. ti2; ‡: p < 0.05, ti1 vs. ti3; §: p < 0.05, ti1 vs. ti4; ¶: p < 0.05, ti2 vs. ti3; ※: p < 0.05, ti2 vs. ti4; #: p < 0.05, ti3 vs. ti4; NS: not statistically significant