title: Improvement of quality of life in patients with benign goiter after surgical treatment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A quality of life (QoL) assessment is considered an important outcome measure in the treatment of benign thyroid diseases. The aims of this study were to analyze the impact of different surgical treatments on QoL in patients with benign thyroid diseases and to evaluate factors correlating with the QoL outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective longitudinal study was conducted. One hundred thirty-two patients met the inclusion/exclusion criteria and completed the disease-specific questionnaire, thyroid patient-reported outcome (ThyPRO), before surgery and after 6 months. Preoperative and postoperative QoL outcomes were compared and correlating factors were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Indication for surgery was euthyroid goiter, toxic goiter, and suspicious malignant thyroid disease in 58.3, 29.5, and 12.1 % of the patients, respectively. None of the patients had overtly toxic goiter. There were 65.2 % of the patients who underwent total thyroidectomy, while 34.8 % underwent hemithyroidectomy. The total postoperative complication rate was 5.3 %. QoL improved significantly after surgical treatment, independent of the extent of performed surgery. The most affected domain, pre- and postoperative, was for tiredness. QoL improvement was significant for women in all domains, while for men, it was significant in only three domains (goiter symptoms, emotional susceptibility, and cosmetic complaints) and in overall QoL. Younger patients had significantly better cognitive functioning and daily life, while elderly patients had significantly less cosmetic complaints. The factors that significantly correlated with improvement of QoL in different domains were lower education level, duration of disease, and microcarcinoma at final histology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  QoL in patients with benign thyroid diseases improves significantly after operative treatment, independent of the extent of the operation.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Visegradska 26, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia, bukvicbranka@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Branka R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Bukvic
authors.forename: Vladan R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Zivaljevic
authors.forename: Sandra B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Sipetic
authors.forename: Aleksandar D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Diklic
authors.forename: Katarina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Tausanovic
authors.forename: Ivan R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Paunovic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006042:Goiter / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013965:Thyroidectomy; D016896:Treatment Outcome