Quality of life and communication in orthognathic treatment

Objective: The primary aim was to determine what, if any, relationships exist between communication and quality of life in patients receiving orthognathic treatment since this has not been explored. A secondary aim was to compare the Quality of Life (QoL) of a pre-treat sample with those at 2 years post-surgery. Design: A cross-sectional questionnaire method was used. Setting: Outpatient clinics providing orthognathic treatment at four UK hospital sites. Participants: Two separate samples of pre-treatment (n=73) and 2 year post-surgery (n=78) patients participated in the study. Methods: At clinic appointments all eligible patients were invited to complete the Orthognathic Quality of Life Questionnaire (OQLQ), a previously validated condition-specific quality of life measure. At the same time participants at the 2 year post-surgery stage also completed a second short questionnaire, the Communication Assessment Tool-Team (CAT-T), where they rated the quality of communication they had received during treatment. Results: One hundred and fifty-one complete responses were received. The average age was 24.5 years (S.D. 9.77) and the majority (67%) were female in both groups. Statistically significant associations were found between QoL and quality of communication in the treated sample. Findings also showed a comparatively poorer QoL for the pre-treatment participants. This reduced QoL was more pronounced in females than males for all aspects except dentofacial appearance. Conclusions: There was an improvement in QoL for patients at 2 years post-surgery compared to pre-treatment. There is an association between QoL and quality of communication as reported by participants at 2 years post-surgery. These novel findings are similar to outcomes in other patient settings such as oncology, but further investigation is required to establish the direction of cause and effect