Abstract:
Objective To analyze the effect of 131I treatment on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in female patients with early stage thyroid papillary carcinoma (PTC).
Methods The data of 356 female PTC patients (aged 21−65 (41.00±9.64) years) with pT1N1aM0 in China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University collected from June 2015 to June 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 400 healthy women (aged 21−65 (41.70±9.38) years) were selected as healthy controls. The HRQOL scores by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaire-core 30(QLQ-C30) between the controls and PTC patients at preoperative period and at 6 months after the operation were compared. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether or not they received 131I treatment (131I treatment group: n=205, non-131I treatment group: n=151). The levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroglobulin (Tg), and HRQOL scores at preoperative period and at 1, 3, and 6 months after the operation were compared between the two groups. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Non-parametric test of Mann-Whitney U was used to compare the groups with SPSS 19.0 software.
Results Before the operation, the global quality of life (GQOL) score of all patients was significantly lower than that of the controls (59.11±21.12 vs. 83.08±14.62), functional domain scores in patients were lower than those in the controls except physical function, symptom domain scores were significantly higher except pain (Z=−6.958 to −4.673, all P<0.05). At 6 months after operation, the GQOL score in patients was still lower than that in the controls (73.88±18.04 vs. 83.08±14.62), but it was significantly higher than the preoperative score. Similar improvements were found in eight other domains other than physical function, cognitive function, social function, fatigue, pain and dyspnoea (Z=−5.790 to −2.876, all P<0.05). No significant difference was found in the preoperative all-domain scores between the 131I and non-131I treatment groups (Z=−0.876 to −0.001, all P>0.05). TSH and Tg in 131I treatment group were significantly higher than non-131I treatment group at 1 month after operation (Z=−6.159, −10.061, both P<0.01). At 1 month after operation, the GQOL score in the 131I treatment group was significantly lower than that in the non-131I treatment group (50.57±17.72 vs. 55.74±18.82). Functional domain scores of the 131I treatment group were significantly lower than those in the non-131I treatment group, symptom domain scores were significantly higher except pain, diarrhea, and financial impact (Z=−5.512 to −2.550, all P<0.05). At 3 months after operation, the GQOL score of the 131I treatment group was still lower than that in the non-131I treatment group (64.43±32.12 vs. 72.68±17.29), but the functional domain scores of the 131I treatment group were lower than that in the non-131I treatment group only in the role function, emotional function, social function, and symptom domain scores were higher only in the insomnia, appetite loss (Z=−2.939 to −0.984, all P<0.05). At 6 months after operation, no difference was found in the GQOL score and any other scores between the 131I treatment group and non-131I treatment group (Z=−2.550 to −0.008, all P>0.05).
Conclusion 131I treatment had no impact on HRQOL in female patients with early stage PTC at 6 months after the operation or longer.