The impact of thyroidectomy on psychiatric symptoms and quality of life

Abstract

Our results indicate that even long after euthyroidism is achieved after surgery, patients show a significant improvement of mental health and a reduction of psychiatric symptoms. Nevertheless, patients continue to have a poorer QOL compared to the Italian normative sample.

Five-year longitudinal evaluation of quality of life in a cohort of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma

“…In an Italian population with thyroid disorders, Bianchi et al (2004) used the SF-36 inventory and Nottingham health profile to evaluate health-related QoL; this was found to be poor regardless of the severity and functional type of thyroid dysfunction, as already shown by other studies (Jaeschke et al, 1994;Ljunggren et al, 1998;Biondi et al, 2000). In a cohort of patients scheduled for thyroid surgery for several reasons, including cancer in 17% of cases, Miccoli et al (2007) assessed QoL by means of the SF-36 inventory, but not the Symptom Checklist-90; they found poorer overall scores and social functioning than in either the general population or patients scheduled for nonthyroidal surgery. Thyroidectomy was followed by a significant reduction in the severity of psychiatric symptoms, but social functioning remained markedly impaired for a long time, even after euthyroidism had been achieved (Miccoli et al, 2007).…”

“…In a cohort of patients scheduled for thyroid surgery for several reasons, including cancer in 17% of cases, Miccoli et al (2007) assessed QoL by means of the SF-36 inventory, but not the Symptom Checklist-90; they found poorer overall scores and social functioning than in either the general population or patients scheduled for nonthyroidal surgery. Thyroidectomy was followed by a significant reduction in the severity of psychiatric symptoms, but social functioning remained markedly impaired for a long time, even after euthyroidism had been achieved (Miccoli et al, 2007). One obstacle to evaluating illness perception in patients with thyroid cancer is the current lack of developed questionnaires (Watt et al, 2010) like that used for thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (Terwee et al, 2001).…”

“…In this study, we used self-rated questionnaires, both constructed ad hoc and previously well-validated in thyroid pathology (Giusti et al, 2005), and well-known instruments used extensively by thyroidologists (Billewicz et al, 1969) or psychiatrists (Hamilton, 1959;1960). The objectives of the study were: (1) to confirm the wide variation of illness perception (Crevenna et al, 2003;Hirsch et al, 2009) in DTC subjects, as already documented in the whole spectrum of thyroid pathologies (Bianchi et al, 2004;Miccoli et al, 2007), which, however, should require a new specific thyroid questionnaire (Watt et al, 2010); (2) to verify our previous impression (Giusti et al, 2005) that, in unselected DTC, periodic follow-up examinations and the use of less aggressive diagnostic/therapeutic methods (Lee et al, 2010) improve health-related QoL over time; (3) to demonstrate that the prolonged follow-up of DTC subjects normalizes QoL to the levels reported in subjects with benign post-surgical thyroid pathology.…”

Quality of life is not affected by thyroid surgery in nontoxic benign goitre in long‐term surveillance—A prospective observational study

“…As in euthyroid patients the influence of hormonal status on QoL is irrelevant, it can be assumed that surgical therapy itself influences the postoperative QoL. In this context, it has been shown that thyroidectomy improves sleep apnoea symptoms, as well as swallowing‐related QoL, and can positively influence psychiatric symptoms . For the evaluation of QoL in nontoxic benign goitre, a disease‐specific questionnaire has been established in Denmark and is now used in further countries, except for German‐speaking countries, as it is not validated currently.…”

“…Surgery seems to improve postoperative QoL in patients with benign goitres using generic and disease‐specific questionnaires . For instance, the Thyroid Patient‐Reported Outcome (ThyPRO), a disease‐specific questionnaire, has been recommended for use in patients with benign thyroid diseases, but a German version of this questionnaire has not been validated yet.…”