Distress, anxiety, depression and unmet needs in thyroid cancer survivors: a longitudinal study.
Endocrine
; 74(3): 603-610, 2021 12.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34143334
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE:
Despite a good prognosis, thyroid cancer (TC) survivors often report psychological distress and decreased quality of life. This longitudinal study aims to evaluate TC survivors' levels of distress, anxiety, depression and unmet needs, checking potential life events.METHODS:
Distress Thermometer, Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, Supportive Care Need Survey (short form) and Interview for Recent Life Events were administered to 73 TC survivors (T0) and 44 of them were re-tested one year later (T1). Participants were at 0-5, 5-10 or >10 years from the end of their cancer-related treatments.RESULTS:
At T0, distress, anxiety and depression mean scores were 6.4, 6.8 and 5.3, while at T1 they were 5.5, 4.8 and 5.1. Only anxiety scores decreased significantly between T0 and T1. 50.7% of patients had unmet psychological needs at T0 and 50.0% at T1. Most participants were satisfied in the communicative/ informative (T079.5%; T1 77.3%) and social/health care areas (T074.0%; T175.0%). The most experienced stressful events detected concerned their working areas.CONCLUSIONS:
Results confirmed that patients reported distress, anxiety and depression concerns even many years after the end of treatments. Both medical and psychological surveillance are relevant to improving TC survivors' wellbeing.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Thyroid Neoplasms
/
Cancer Survivors
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Endocrine
Journal subject:
ENDOCRINOLOGIA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Italy