The relation between health-related quality of life, past medical history, and American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ASA grade in patients having primary operations for oral and oropharyngeal cancer

Pre-existing medical problems have the potential to affect postoperative survival, complications, and health-related quality of life (QoL). Our aim was to explore the relation between past medical history, American Society of Anesthesiologists’ (ASA) score, health-related QoL, and survival. We collected data from 278 consecutive patients with previously untreated oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma operated on primarily from 1995 to 1999 inclusive. Past medical history was recorded from the case notes, ASA grade from the anaesthetic record, and QoL was measured using the University of Washington Quality of Life Questionnaire (UW-QoL). Responses to questionnaires were received from (71%) at baseline (63%) at 6 months (73%) at 1 year, and (65%) 18 months or longer.