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. 2022 Aug;108(4):291-314.
doi: 10.1177/03008916211025098. Epub 2021 Aug 13.

Systematic review of health-related quality of life following thyroid cancer

Emma G Walshaw  1 , Mike Smith  2 , Dae Kim  3 , Jonathan Wadsley  4 , Anastasios Kanatas  5 , Simon N Rogers  6   7
Affiliations

Systematic review of health-related quality of life following thyroid cancer

Emma G Walshaw et al. Tumori. 2022 Aug.

Abstract

This systematic review provides a summary of all studies published between 2000 and 2019 using a health-related quality of life (HRQOL) patient-completed questionnaire to report outcomes following diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer. The search terms were "thyroid cancer" or "thyroid carcinoma," "quality of life" or "health related quality of life," and "questionnaire" or "patient reported outcome." EMBASE, PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and HaNDLE-On-QOL search engines were searched between 2 February and 23 February 2020. A total of 811 identified articles were reduced to 314 when duplicates were removed. After exclusion criteria (not thyroid specific, no quality of life questionnaires, and conference abstracts) were applied, 92 remained. Hand searching identified a further 2 articles. Of the 94 included, 16 had a surgical, 26 a primarily medical, and 52 a general focus. There were articles from 27 countries. A total of 49 articles were published from 2015 through 2019 inclusive. A total of 72 questionnaires were used among the articles and a range of 7 to 2215 participants were included within each article. This review demonstrated an increasing number of publications annually. The scope of enquiry into aspects of HRQOL following thyroid cancer is broad, with relatively few addressing surgical aspects and many focusing on the impact of radio-iodine. More research is required into shared decision-making in initial management decisions and HRQOL and interventions aimed specifically at addressing long-term HRQOL difficulties.

Keywords: Thyroid cancer; patient-reported outcomes; quality of life; questionnaire; review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interest: J.W. has received research funding from AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Genzyme and has received payment for acting in an advisory capacity for AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Genzyme, Eisai, Lilly, Ipsen, and Roche.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) flow chart demonstrating the search and selection pathway for articles.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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