Background: Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) often experience high symptom burden leading to lower quality of life (QoL).
Objective: This study aims to conceptually model optimal cutpoint by examining where total number of patient-reported symptoms exceeds patients' coping capacity, leading to a decline in QoL in patients with HNC.
Methods: Secondary data analysis of 105 individuals with HNC enrolled in a clinical usefulness study of the NYU Electronic Patient Visit Assessment (ePVA)©, a digital patient-reported symptom measure. Patients completed ePVA and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC©) QLQ-C30 v3.0. The total number of patient-reported symptoms was the sum of symptoms as identified by the ePVA questionnaire. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to define optimal cutpoint.
Results: Study participants had a mean age of 61.5, were primarily male (67.6%), and had Stage IV HNC (53.3%). The cutpoint of 10 symptoms was associated with significant decline of QoL (F= 44.8, P<.0001), dividing the population into categories of low symptom burden (< 10 symptoms) and high symptom burden (≥ 10 symptoms). Analyses of EORTC© function subscales supported the validity of 10 symptoms as the optimal cutpoint (Physical: F=28.3, P<.0001; Role: F=21.6, P<.0001; Emotional: F=9.5, P=.003; Social: F=33.1, P<.0001).
Conclusions: In HNC, defining optimal cutpoints in the total number of patient-reported symptoms is feasible.
Implications for practice: Cutpoints in the total number of patient-reported symptoms may identify patients experiencing a high symptom burden from HNC.
Foundational: Using optimal cutpoints of the total number of patient-reported symptoms may help effectively align clinical resources with patients' symptom burden.