The EORTC module for quality of life in patients with thyroid cancer: phase III

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to pilot-test a questionnaire measuring health-related quality of life (QoL) in thyroid cancer patients to be used with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) core questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30. A provisional questionnaire with 47 items was administered to patients treated for thyroid cancer within the last 2 years. Patients were interviewed about time and help needed to complete the questionnaire, and whether they found the items understandable, confusing or annoying. Items were kept in the questionnaire if they fulfilled pre-defined criteria: relevant to the patients, easy to understand, not confusing, few missing values, neither floor nor ceiling effects, and high variance. A total of 182 thyroid cancer patients in 15 countries participated ( = 115 with papillary, = 31 with follicular, = 22 with medullary, = 6 with anaplastic, and = 8 with other types of thyroid cancer). Sixty-six percent of the patients needed 15 min or less to complete the questionnaire. Of the 47 items, 31 fulfilled the predefined criteria and were kept unchanged, 14 were removed, and 2 were changed. Shoulder dysfunction was mentioned by 5 patients as missing and an item covering this issue was added. To conclude, the EORTC quality of life module for thyroid cancer (EORTC QLQ-THY34) is ready for the final validation phase IV.

Quality of Life of Patients Followed for Thyroid Cancer: An Element Not to Overlook

“…There are also specific questionnaires that are specific to a situation, to a pathology (thyroid, multiple sclerosis, For the thyroid, we can find ThyPRO and the EORTC QoL Questionnaires, which are specific to thyroid pathology [21,22] The handling of patients undergoing treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer involves three basic steps: surgery, radioiodine therapy and hormone treatment with TSH suppression.…”

A Protocol for a Pan-Canadian Prospective Observational Study on Active Surveillance or Surgery for Very Low Risk Papillary Thyroid Cancer

“…For patients recruited in the multi-centre study, a baseline self-administered written questionnaire includes demographics and medical history, a question on baseline disease management preference, as well as the following patient-reported outcomes: i) quality of life (thyroid cancer/cancer-specific - EORTC QLQ-THY34 ( 12 ) with EORTC QLQ-C30 ( 13 ) and ii) anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener, GAD-7) ( 14 ). Patients recruited from the original Toronto study who had previously completed a baseline questionnaire as outlined in the original study protocol ( 10 ), will not perform a repeat baseline assessment, but relevant original baseline data will be reported.…”

“…Yearly follow-up questionnaires (up to 5 years) include: an update of thyroid cancer status and thyroid cancer treatments as well as the following questionnaires: i) quality of life (thyroid cancer/cancer-specific - EORTC QLQ-THY34 ( 12 ) with EORTC QLQ-THY34 ( 13 ) ii) anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder Screener, GAD-7) ( 14 ), iii) survivors’ concerns (Assessment of Survivor Concerns, ASC [1])), and iv) decision regret, relating to the original decision to undergo AS or surgery [decision regret scale ( 15 )]. The questionnaires used in this study to evaluate quality of life and psychosocial outcomes have all been previously used in cancer populations.…”

“…For sites in the province of Quebec using French language EORTC QLQ-THY-34 ( 12 ) and ASC ( 16 ) adapted to Quebec French are not available at the time of initiation of this protocol so they will be initially omitted, with the intention of incorporating them once available (after approval of research ethics board amendments in sites in the province of Quebec).…”

Anxiety and Fear of Recurrence Despite a Good Prognosis: An Interview Study with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Patients

“…The questionnaire was developed by the research group, with its relevant knowledge of thyroid cancer and its symptoms. Recently, a phase III study has investigated an EORTC QLQ-C30 thyroid-specific module THY34 235 , and as soon as it is validated in a phase IV study and translated to Swedish it should be a good alternative.…”