Quality of life of patients with thyroid cancer in Colombia

Abstract

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) in thyroid cancer patients is comparable to patients with other tumours with worse prognosis. The aim was to evaluate QoL in Colombian patients with thyroid carcinoma and to explore the association of QoL scores with patient features.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. The present research was carried out from data obtained for the validation study of the Spanish version of the THYCA-QoL. Adult patients with thyroid carcinoma who underwent total or partial thyroidectomy were included and asked to complete the Spanish-validated versions of the THYCA-QoL and EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaires. The scores of each domain and single items underwent linear transformation to values of 0-100. Comparisons of scale scores with clinical variables were performed.

Results: We included 293 patients. The global EORTC QLQ-C30 score was 73.2±22.1 and the domains with poorer values were emotional and cognitive and the symptoms with poorer values were insomnia and fatigue. The global THYCA-QOL score was 28.4±17.8. The domains with poorer values were neuromuscular and psychological and the single items with poorer values were headaches and tingling hands/feet.

Conclusion: Colombian patients with thyroid cancer have a good prognosis, but they experience important problems related to QoL. QoL was influenced by demographic and clinical factors such as age, sex functional status and clinical stage.

Keywords: Calidad de vida; Investigación de resultados; Neoplasia tiroidea; Outcomes research; Quality of life; Thyroid neoplasm; Thyroidectomy; Tiroidectomía.