2026, Volume 19, Issue 6, pp 467 – 473

Long-term health-related quality of life following an online rehabilitation program after total laryngectomy: a 3-year retrospective longitudinal study

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Authors and Affiliations

* Corresponding author Gloria Simona Berteșteanu, Department 12 – Otorhinolaryngology, Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania; Otorhinolaryngology Department, Dr. Carol Davila Central Military Emergency University Hospital, Bucharest, Romania. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) trajectories after participation in an online rehabilitation course. A retrospective observational longitudinal study was conducted in accordance with the STROBE (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology) guidelines. We analyzed 48 patients who completed a multimodal online rehabilitation course in 2022. The curriculum covered anatomical foundations and practical techniques for voice production, deglutition, respiration, and olfactory recovery. HRQoL was assessed using the EORTC QLQ-C30 instrument at baseline (T0) and annually for 3 years (T1, T2, T3). All scores were linearly transformed to a 0–100 scale. Five patients were censored due to mortality during follow-up. Longitudinal exploratory analyses were performed using repeated-measures comparisons where appropriate. Among the 43 survivors at 3 years, clinically relevant longitudinal improvements were observed in global health status/QoL (from 58.4 ± 18.2 to 85.7 ± 9.8, +27.3 points), physical functioning (+20.9 points), role functioning (+22.5 points), and social functioning (+19.5 points). Symptom burden decreased markedly, particularly fatigue (−22.5 points), dyspnea (−22.7 points), and pain (−17.3 points). Patients with TEVP (tracheoesophageal voice prosthesis) complications (n = 3), defined as an exploratory group, tended to have less favorable recovery trajectories and lower global QoL scores at 3 years compared to those without complications (P = 0.012). The most pronounced improvements occurred within the first post-intervention year and remained stable thereafter. Patients participating in the online rehabilitation program demonstrated sustained improvements in HRQoL over the follow-up period; however, the absence of a control group precludes causal inference.

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About this article

PMC ID: 
PubMed ID: 42602631
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2026-0060

Article Publishing Date (print):
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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