Eating ability in head and neck cancer patients after treatment with chemoradiation: A 12-month follow-up study accounting for dropout

Background. Head and neck cancer patients treated with chemoradiation have difficulty eating a normal diet. This study was designed to characterize eating ability over 12 months after chemoradiation treatment. Analyses take patient dropout into account. Methods: Two hundred fifty‐five patients with head and neck cancer treated with chemoradiation were followed for 12 months. Eating ability was analyzed using generalized linear model methods that accounted for non‐ignorable dropout. Results. Eating ability was compromised immediately after treatment and improved over 12 months to near pretreatment levels. Ability to eat at most 50% of the diet orally did not return to baseline levels (p < .05). However, the percent of patients eating a normal diet did return to baseline levels. Accounting for dropout modified the results, but the pattern of significance was similar. Conclusions. Treatment of head and neck cancer with chemoradiation has a significant effect on eating ability, which improves after 12 months after treatment. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 25: 000–000, 2003