Sense of coherence levels among head and neck cancer subjects

Head and neck (H&N) cancers are the eleventh most common cancer worldwide and the fifth most common in Brazil. The literature suggests that biological and psychosocial factors may affect the H&N cancer prognosis. Recently, a psychosocial measure called sense of coherence (SOC) has been widely investigated as a determinant of health outcomes. However, no study of SOC levels in H&N cancer has been conducted. Objectives: i) to report SOC levels among H&N cancer patients; and ii) to investigate the possible association between SOC and socio-demographic and clinical covariates in H&N cancer patients. Methods: A prospective study was conducted among H&N cancer subjects at a Brazilian hospital. Information on SOC, socio-demographic and clinical characteristics, alcohol drinking and smoking habits was collected. Due to the non-normal distribution of SOC in the sample, non-parametric statistical approaches were used to investigate the association between SOC and covariates. Results: Cross-sectional analyses of baseline information from 146 subjects were carried out. The mean SOC level was 49.2 (range 21-68; median 50.5) and the mean age was 57.7 years. Most of the subjects were male (75%), married or living in common law (63%) and had low levels of education (91%). The cancers were mainly in the oral cavity (50%) and diagnosed at a late stage (59%). Due its non-normal frequency distribution, SOC levels were divided into quartiles. Chi-square analyses showed that men, those who are married or living in common law and those working had higher SOC. After multivariate analysis, gender and marital status remained significant correlates of SOC. No statistically significant association was observed between SOC and clinical variables or smoking and alcohol drinking habits. Conclusion: These results suggest that SOC is associated with socio-demographic factors but not clinical factors among H&N cancer subjects. Research supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Applied Oral Health Research Training Program.