Patients with Thyroid Cancer Exhibit High Distress Levels

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a study published in the journal Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, researchers from the Huntsman Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah, have found that patients with thyroid cancer have high distress levels.

For the retrospective cohort study, researchers sought to evaluate levels of psychosocial distress in patients with thyroid cancer and to analyze factors contributing to levels of distress. Researchers identified 118 patients with newly diagnosed thyroid cancer.

They found that 43.3% of those patients had significant psychosocial distress. Results also showed that patients with antidepressant medication use, self-report psychiatric history, and history of radiotherapy had higher levels of psychosocial distress.

A multivariate analysis showed that patients who endorsed emotional issues had a higher level of psychosocial distress.

The findings suggest that patients with thyroid cancer have high distress levels, and it is important to identify patients with high distress so that additional support can be offered during cancer therapy.