Objective To investigate the composition of symptom clusters of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after 5 years of discharge and to analyze the correlation between symptom clusters and quality of life. Methods The general data sheet, the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory for Head and Neck Cancer (MDASI-HN), the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30), were used to survey 131 NPC patients after 5 years of discharge. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract symptom clusters, and Spearman correlation test was used to explore the correlation between symptom clusters and quality of life. Results Among the NPC patients, the following symptoms had the highest incidence rate: fatigue （99.2%）, dry mouth （97.7%）, forgetfulness （96.9%）, oral mucus （95.4%） and distress （84.7%）; the top five symptoms with the highest distress scores were fatigue （6.14± 1.49）, dry mouth （5.43 ±1.70）, amnesia （5.02 ±1.74）, oral mucus （4.27± 1.67） and distress 5（4,6）. The score of symptom impact on patients′ lives was （3.41± 1.21）, and the aspects of patients′ life impacted by symptoms in descen-ding order were work （including housework）, emotions, walking, fun in life, relationship with others and general activities. Exploratory factor analysis extracted such 5 symptom clusters as chronic oropharyngeal symptom clusters, chronic morbid symptom clusters, chronic radiation muscle group symptom clusters, chronic radiation ear symptom clusters, and chronic pain symptom clusters, with all the clusters negatively correlated to the overall quality of life （P＜0.01 for all）. Conclusion NPC patients still present symptom clusters that are associated with quality of life of patients even 5 years after discharge. It is suggested that clinical nurses should develop a symptom management strategy for continuous follow-up of NPC patients, improve the identification and control of symptom clusters, in an effort to improve patients′ quality of life.