Xerostomia in patients with advanced cancer: a scoping review of clinical features and complications.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this project was to review the literature on dry mouth / xerostomia in patients with advanced cancer, with the objectives being to determine its prevalence, clinical features, and complications. METHODS: Standard methodology was used to conduct this scoping review. Detailed searches of the Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycInfo databases were conducted to identify relevant studies: eligible studies had to include patients with advanced cancer, and to contain details of clinical features and/or complications of xerostomia. Commercial bibliographic / systematic review software was used to support the process. RESULTS: Forty-three studies were discovered from the database and hand searches. The studies included 23 generic symptom studies, eight "symptom cluster" studies, nine oral symptom / problem studies, and three xerostomia-specific studies. In depth data is described on the clinical features and complications of xerostomia, and on the "symptom clusters" including xerostomia, in this cohort of patients. CONCLUSION: This review discovered a relatively small number of focused studies (involving a similarly small number of patients). Nonetheless, it demonstrates that xerostomia is a very common problem in patients with advanced cancer and is often associated with significant morbidity (and impairment of quality of life).

The Oral Symptom Assessment Scale (OSAS): criterion validation with the EORTC QLQ-OH15 and reliability testing.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the criterion validity and reliability of the Oral Symptom Assessment Scale (OSAS) in patients with advanced cancer receiving specialist palliative care. METHODS: To examine criterion validity, participants completed the OSAS, EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-OH15. Twenty-four hours later participants repeated the OSAS to investigate test-retest reliability. RESULTS: 54 participants were recruited (median age 70; range: 35- 93 years). 51 complete datasets were obtained. Cohen's kappa test was used to evaluate the agreement for the presence / absence of symptoms on the OSAS on the first and second days (test-retest reliability). This analysis showed values of moderate and higher for agreement for all symptoms. All kappa values were statistically significant. The test-retest reliability for symptom severity, frequency and distress was assessed using Intraclass Correlation Coefficient. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were used to evaluate agreement between similar questions on the OSAS from day one and the EORTC QLQ-OH15 also on day one to examine criterion validity. CONCLUSION: This study supports the validity of the OSAS, and provides evidence for the reliability of this novel oral symptom assessment tool, in patients with advanced cancer. Further research is needed to corroborate the findings of this study. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CancerTrials.gov registry registration no.: PM202166.