Perspective.

Yet more data points to the discrepancy between physician- and patient-reported outcomes. Radiation oncologists focus a lot on xerostomia and trismus following radiation for head and neck cancer. And while these conditions have logical implications for overall health, we know little about how it impacts patients’ impressions of their own health. This cross-sectional study of 112 patients post-head and neck radiation at MSKCC assessed correlations of objective measures of xerostomia and trismus at 9 months with subsequent FACE-Q patient reported outcomes. As it turns out, there really weren’t any, again suggesting patient interpretation of health is much more complex than we currently understand. | Long, JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2022