Pilot Cross-Sectional Quality of Life Study of a Diverse Endocrine Surgery Patient Population

Quality of life (QOL) studies of endocrine surgery patients have lacked diverse patient representation, long-term follow-up, or the use of validated questionnaires. This cross-sectional pilot study explored the need for prospective QOL studies in diverse endocrine surgery patients who were ≥6 mo postoperative.

In 2019, we mailed anonymous questionnaires to 671 adult patients cared for by an endocrine surgery division between 2018 and 2019. Patients were ≥6 mo postoperative and had undergone thyroidectomy, parathyroidectomy, or adrenalectomy. Patients mailed back responses to two validated questionnaires, the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System-29 (PROMIS-29), and the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10). We compared responses across race.

Of 135 respondents (20.1% response rate), 27.4% were 60-69 y and 69.6% were female. Race and ethnicity frequencies include 60.0% White patients, 27.4% Black patients, 4.4% Asian patients, and 5.2% Hispanic/LatinX patients. For surgery, 57.8% underwent thyroidectomy, 28.2% parathyroidectomy, 9.6% both, 4.4% adrenalectomy, and 32.6% surgery for cancer. Regarding PROMIS-29 results for patients who underwent thyroidectomy, significant differences were observed in the domains of physical function, depression, sleep disturbances, social roles, and global pain across race (P < 0.05). However, few differences were seen after completion of post hoc pairwise comparisons. We did not observe differences in PROMIS scores across race among patients who underwent parathyroidectomy and adrenalectomy or in VHI-10 for all surgical groups.

These results suggest long-term QOL differences across race and surgery type and support the need for prospective studies among diverse endocrine surgery patients.