Quality of life in thyroid cancer survivors with and without permanent hypoparathyroidism

PURPOSE: Hypoparathyroidism (HypoPT) is one of the most common complications of surgical treatment for thyroid cancer and afflicated patients often report symptoms or impairments in quality of life (QoL). We aimed to investigate differences in various QoL domains between thyroid cancer survivors with and without permanent hypoparathyroidism. METHODS: Thyroid cancer survivors with a minimum of 1.5 years post-diagnosis completed the EORTC core questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) and the EORTC thyroid module (QLQ-THY34). Sociodemographic and clinical information were obtained from the patients themselves and their medical charts. Analysis of covariance was used to compare QoL between survivors with and without hypoparathyroidism (adjusting for age, gender, time since diagnosis, and comorbidity). RESULTS: Of the 126 participants, 21 (17%) were diagnosed with permanent HypoPT. There was no evidence of differences regarding any QoL domain between survivors due to hypoparathyroidism. The symptoms with the highest burden for both groups were fatigue (hypoPT: 24.9; non-hypoPT: 32.8; p = 0.151) and insomnia (hypoPT: 22.2; non-hypoPT: 30.8; p = 0.213). Thyroid cancer specific impairments were observed for joint pain (hypoPT: 28.6; non-hypoPT: 34.0; p = 0.480), worry about important others (hypoPT: 25.8; non-hypoPT: 27.9; p = 0.765), exhaustion (hypoPT: 23.8; non-hypoPT: 27.9; p = 0.482), and lacking social support (hypoPT: 36.5; no-hypoPT: 23.0; p = 0.070). CONCLUSION: The present study appears to show that QoL in thyroid cancer survivors may be unrelated to hypoparathyroidism, further suggesting a more complex relationship between these two aspects.