Factors affecting the quality of life of well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients: A cross-sectional study on 435 Iranian patients

Introduction: Differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is associated with excellent prognosis and high survival rates. This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of baseline and treatment-related factors on the health related quality of life (QoL) in cured DTC. Methods:This study was an analytic cross-sectional study on radio-iodine (RAI) treated DTC patients during 2011-2012. The data on patients’ QoL were recorded using a validated EORTC QLQ-C30 version 3.0. Also a checklist was used to record demographic data as well as information about the educational, marital and economic status. Duration of follow up, frequency of RAI therapies and number of surgeries were also recorded. General linear model multivariate analysis of variances (GLM-MANOVA) was used to analyze the data. Results:Totally 435 DTC patients, 41.11±11.25 years, 77% female were assessed. Most of them were married (79%) and unemployed (57%). Global health and Qol as well as functional domains were better in women, single and higher educated patients. The QoL score in female cases was better in four functional subdomains, i.e physical, emotional, role and cognitive, but not for social functioning. QoL was adversely affected by increased number of radio-iodine therapies, radio-iodine cumulative doses and number of surgeries. Conclusion: We found that quality-of-life scores are affected by the majority of socio-economic, treatment and follow-up variables. Attention to the quality of life and well-being of the patient as well as availability of professional support may be important aspects of the DTC patients’ treatment and follow-up.