Assessment of prevalence and measures to manage oral mucositis among radiation therapy patients at tertiary care center of Andhra Pradesh

Objectives: • To assess the prevalence and measures to manage oral mucositis among patients receiving radiation therapy. • To find out the association between prevalence & measures to manage oral mucositis among clients receiving radiation therapy with their selected socio-demographic variables. Material and methods: The present study was a cross-sectional descriptive research design with non-probability convenient sampling technique was used which 176 patients who are receiving radiation therapy, SVIMS, Tirupati. Data was collected by using demographic variables and WHO oral mucositis grading scale (2004) and data was analyzed by using mean, standard deviation, chi-square test. Results: The study findings revealed that participants 49% are having mild oral mucositis, 41% are having moderate oral mucositis and 10% are having severe oral mucositis. The mean and standard deviation shows the grade of oral mucositis was 1.61+ 0.666. Conclusion: The study findings concluded that 49% were having mild oral mucositis. Patients developed a positive attitude towards measures to manage oral mucositis by instructional pamphlet. So, certain measures can be useful in the prevention of oral mucositis in all the patients receiving radiation therapy.