Quality-of-Life Priorities in Patients with Thyroid Cancer: A Multinational European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Phase I Study.
The objectives of this study were to determine quality of life (QoL) issues that are relevant to thyroid cancer patients cross-culturally, and to identify those with highest relevance to them in addition to the more general issues covered by the core European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer QoL questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30).



A systematic literature search provided a list of potentially relevant QoL issues to supplement the core questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30, which is widely used in research and in care and addresses QoL issues relevant to all groups of cancer patients. A panel of experts revised this list, and thyroid cancer patients rated the issues regarding their relevance for QoL by selecting the 25 issues that they would include in a thyroid cancer-specific QoL module.



The literature search and expert discussion provided a list of 71 QoL issues that was rated by thyroid cancer patients (n = 110) from seven countries. All issues were of high priority to at least some of the patients. The most frequently selected issues were sudden attacks of tiredness, exhaustion, quality of sleep, employment, social support, fear of cancer progression, fear of second operation, difficulties swallowing, and globus sensation.



Thyroid cancer patients cross-culturally rate fatigue-related issues as highly important for their QoL, calling for increased efforts to find successful treatments for this problem. Vocational rehabilitation is also highly relevant for them and should therefore be an important aim of multidisciplinary care. The third important area of concern is psychological issues, especially fear of progression and of additional treatments.
1 Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center Mainz , Mainz, Germany .
Susanne
S
Singer
2 CoRPS-Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases, Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University , Tilburg, The Netherlands .
Olga
O
Husson
3 Department of Medical Education, Jagiellonian University Medical College , Krakow, Poland .
Iwona M
IM
Tomaszewska
4 Head and Neck Medical Oncology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori , Milan, Italy .
Laura D
LD
Locati
5 Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Kobe University Hospital , Kobe, Japan .
Naomi
N
Kiyota
1 Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center Mainz , Mainz, Germany .
Ulrike
U
Scheidemann-Wesp
6 Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Centre , Leipzig, Germany .
Dirk
D
Hofmeister
7 Mount Vernon Hospital , Northwood, London, United Kingdom .
Melanie
M
Winterbotham
7 Mount Vernon Hospital , Northwood, London, United Kingdom .
Christine
C
Brannan
8 Service of Surgical Oncology, Instituto Português de Oncologia do Porto Francisco Gentil , Porto, Portugal .
Cláudia
C
Araújo
9 Department of Nuclear Medicine and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Innsbruck , Innsbruck, Austria .
Eva M
EM
Gamper
10 Translation Unit, European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Headquarters , Brussels, Belgium .
Dagmara
D
Kulis
11 National Association of Thyroid Cancer Patients "Bundesverband Schilddrüsenkrebs-Ohne Schilddrüse leben e.V.," Berlin, Germany .
Harald
H
Rimmele
12 Surgery Department, Jules Bordet Institute , Brussels, Belgium .
Guy
G
Andry
4 Head and Neck Medical Oncology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori , Milan, Italy .
Lisa
L
Licitra
D018263:Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / Q000473:pathology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D018278:Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005060:Europe; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011788:Quality of Life; D012050:Rehabilitation, Vocational; D057566:Self Report; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D014837:Voluntary Health Agencies
anaplastic; follicular; medullary; oncology; papillary; patient-reported outcomes