Association between tea consumption and quality of life in men with esophageal squamous carcinoma based on TTD model

Abstract PurposeTo explore the association between postoperative tea drinking and quality of life in male patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).MethodsThe data was collected using the esophageal cancer quality of life questionnaire. The time to deterioration (TTD) model was used to measure ESCC patients' quality of life. The association between postoperative tea drinking and postoperative quality of life in male ESCC patients was investigated using the Cox proportional hazard model.ResultsPostoperative tea-drinking patients experienced delayed TTD in multiple domains, including general health, physical, role, emotional, and cognitive function, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, dyspnea, loss of appetite, constipation, diarrhea, eating problems, difficulty swallowing, choking while swallowing saliva, dry mouth, taste difficulties, coughing, and speech problems. The multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that drinking tea after surgery improved quality of life, including physical (HR=0.719, 95% CI: 0.557-0.929) and role function (HR=0.737, 95% CI: 0.555- 0.978), eating problems (HR=0.724, 95% CI: 0.542-0.967), odynophagia (HR=0.683, 95% CI: 0.493-0.946), trouble swallowing saliva (HR=0.624, 95% CI: 0.444-0.877), coughing (HR=0.628, 95% CI: 0.443- 0.890) and speech problems (HR=0.630, 95% CI: 0.441-0.902). Furthermore, the improvement was more significant in patients who drank tea before surgery and continued to drink tea after surgery.ConclusionsPostoperative tea drinking improved and delayed the worsening of multiple functions and symptoms associated with ESCC on the EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-OES18 scales in male ESCC patients. Furthermore, the improvement was more significant in patients who drank tea before surgery and continued to drink tea after surgery.