Premium
Quality of life after thyroidectomy in patients with nontoxic nodular goiter: A prospective cohort study
Author(s) -
Sorensen Jesper Roed,
Watt Torquil,
Cramon Per,
Døssing Helle,
Hegedüs Laszlo,
Bonnema Steen Joop,
Godballe Christian
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.24886
Subject(s) - medicine , goiter , anxiety , quality of life (healthcare) , population , thyroidectomy , thyroid , cohort , surgery , psychiatry , nursing , environmental health
Background Using the thoroughly validated Thyroid‐Related Quality‐of‐Life Patient‐Reported Outcome (ThyPRO) questionnaire, the purpose of this study was to investigate changes in disease‐specific quality of life (QOL) after surgical treatment in patients with benign nontoxic multinodular goiters. Method Patients with goiters scheduled for thyroid surgery (n = 106) and individuals from the general population (n = 739) were studied. The ThyPRO data before, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery were compared with normative scores from the general population using a linear mixed model and t tests. Results Before surgery, patients with goiters experienced poorer scores on all scales compared to the general population. After surgery, moderate to large improvements were seen in goiter symptoms, tiredness, anxiety, and overall QOL. After surgery, all scales returned to values equal to the general population. The degree of anxiety was, in fact, lower than in the general population. Conclusion Thyroid surgery leads to significant benefit among patients with benign nontoxic goiters by restoring QOL equal to that in the general population.