Introduction: Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), despite its good prognosis, affects the quality of life (QOL) of patients by its physical and psychological repercussions and by the toxicity of treatment. A study of the quality of life as well as the potentially associated factors is necessary in order to carry out targeted actions.
Aim: This work was conducted to assess the quality of life of patients treated for thyroid cancer.
Methods: 89 patients treated surgically and by iratherapy for DTC responded from January 2018 to December 2019 to the SF36 questionnaire in its validated version in Tunisian dialect. A descriptive and bivariate analysis between the scores of the different domains and the variables of interest was performed.
Results: The overall mean score (SMG) of the QOL of our patients ranged from 12.8 to 94.25 with a mean of 58±22%. The factors that proved to have a positive impact on the QOL of patients followed for CDT assessed by the SMG and/or the mental summary score (MSS) and/or the physical summary score (PSS) were: male gender (p=0.034), higher educational level (p=0.037), early TNM stage (p=0.041) and low cumulative iodine-131 dose (≤ 5550 MBq) (p=0.031).
Conclusion: QOL is strongly influenced by many sociodemographic and clinical factors. More attention should be paid to patients followed for DTC to improve quality of life.