Oral Cavity/Pharynx Cancer Recovery in African Americans

Long Island University Brooklyn Campus, Brooklyn NY

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Abstract

Aim: Despite the relatively high incidence of oral cavity/pharynx cancer (OCPC) in African Americans,[unreadable] there is no study to date that assesses their recovery from treatment for OCPC in a prospective longitudinal[unreadable] design. Although the incidence of OCPC continues to rise, particularly in African Americans, overall survival[unreadable] rates have remained relatively stable; thus, there are increasing numbers of successfully treated persons[unreadable] living longer with various treatment sequelae. The goals of this study are four-fold: 1) To delineate patient[unreadable] changes from T1 to T4 in the physical, cognitive, functional, and emotional domains of the recovery process;[unreadable] 2) To predict morbidity and mortality as a function of the recovery variables; 3) To develop ethnic-speific[unreadable] models of the recovery process as it pertains to African Americans versus European Americans; 4) To test[unreadable] hypotheses with respect to the role of ethnicity in the recovery process.[unreadable] Method: 90 persons diagnosed with OCPC (45 in each ethnic group) will comprise the sample, after[unreadable] adjustments for attrition. They will be administered a demographics questionnaire, a social desirability scale,[unreadable] and a measure of disfigurement/dysfunction at baseline, and the following measures at T1 - T4 (3, 6, 9, and[unreadable] 12 months following treatment): A set of recovery measures as well as a set of socio-cultural measures[unreadable] including social networks, attachment styles (including comfort with dependency), religious participation,[unreadable] emotion regulation patterns, and coping styles.[unreadable] Analysis: Analyses will include descriptive as well as inferential statistics. At the descriptive level we will[unreadable] characterize the physical, functional, cognitive, and emotional needs/capacities at different stages of the[unreadable] recovery process. At the inferential level we will use multi-level structural equation modeling with crosslagged[unreadable] effects to examine ethnic differences in recovery trajectories and Cox proportional hazards survival[unreadable] analysis to examine mortality. The data from this study will be important in guiding the clinical care of OCPC[unreadable] patients and in designing interventions to ameliorate impaired health and to hasten recovery.