Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: To evaluate the quality of life (QoL) in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) by a validated thyroid-specific questionnaire and to identify factors with significant impact on the QoL.

Methods: Two hundred DTC patients, treated in one tertiary center, were recruited in the study. One year after the thyroid surgery, they completed the QoL Cancer Survivor Instrument – Thyroid version questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed their physical, psychological, social and spiritual well-being. Additional data were collected about the participants’ comorbidities, tumor characteristics and treatment, educational level and marital status.

Results: Eighty-four percent of the patients were female and the median age of the study group was 41 years (IQR, 33-52). The majority of the DTCs (99.5%) were papillary thyroid cancers with predominance of TNM stage I and II cases. The reported overall QoL was 6.9/10 (5.9-7.6), with 0 indicating the worst QoL. The scores for each of the assessed subscales were: 7.5 (5.9-8.6) for physical, 5.9 (4.6-7.2) for psychological, 8.4 (7.4-9.3) for social and 5.7 (4.9-6.5) for spiritual well-being. The greatest discomfort in the physical state was caused by: fatigue (6.0, IQR 3-8), cold or heat intolerance (6.5, IQR 4-10), dry skin/hair problems (7.0, IQR 3-10), and sleep changes (7.0, IQR 4-10). The lowest individual QoL score was observed for the distress by the initial diagnosis (1.0, IQR 0-5). The participants did not report a significant effect of the disease and treatment on their professional performance and daily routines. The females reported worse overall QoL than the males (P = 0.02). In the females were observed lower total physical and psychological subscale scores than in the males (P < 0.001; P = 0.01, respectively). Female sex was the only factor which significantly decreased the overall QoL of the study participants (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Despite the excellent long-term prognosis, DTC had negative impact on the survivors’ QoL. Understanding the specific difficulties and concerns of DTC patients as well as identifying the factors that contribute to their decreased QoL could improve the postoperative care.