BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy is the most familiar complication of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and it has strong impact on the patients. This study was to screen high risk factors of oral mucositis, and establish a mathematical model for forecasting its incidence probability in NPC patients. METHODS: Clinical and experimental factors of 102 NPC patients with oral mucositis were analyzed by univariate analysis, multifactorial Logistic regression, and discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Multifactorial Logistic regression showed that chemotherapy, bad oral hygiene status, not using antibiotic at early stage mucositis, smoking history were high risk factors of serious mucositis. A discriminant function was set up using these 4 factors, with positive forecast value of 75.9%, negative forecast value of 79.5%, sensitivity of 83.0%, and specificity of 71.4%. CONCLUSIONS: Chemotherapy, bad oral hygiene status, not using antibiotic at early stage mucositis, smoking history are high risk factors of serious mucositis after radiotherapy for NPC; early treatment has some preventive effect on it. The discriminant function may help to predict the incidence of serious oral mucositis.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE:Oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy is the most familiar complication of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and it has strong impact on the patients. This study was to screen high risk factors of oral mucositis, and establish a mathematical model for forecasting its incidence probability in NPCpatients. METHODS: Clinical and experimental factors of 102 NPCpatients with oral mucositis were analyzed by univariate analysis, multifactorial Logistic regression, and discriminant analysis. RESULTS: Multifactorial Logistic regression showed that chemotherapy, bad oral hygiene status, not using antibiotic at early stage mucositis, smoking history were high risk factors of serious mucositis. A discriminant function was set up using these 4 factors, with positive forecast value of 75.9%, negative forecast value of 79.5%, sensitivity of 83.0%, and specificity of 71.4%. CONCLUSIONS: Chemotherapy, bad oral hygiene status, not using antibiotic at early stage mucositis, smoking history are high risk factors of serious mucositis after radiotherapy for NPC; early treatment has some preventive effect on it. The discriminant function may help to predict the incidence of serious oral mucositis.