Quality of Life and acceptance of illness in patients who underwent total thyroidectomy

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: In 2015, 3,529 new thyroid cancer cases were reported, including 605 in men (0.7%) and 2,924 in women (3.6%) in Poland. The need of a holistic approach to patient care arouse interest in the issue of quality of life and acceptance of illness. The aim of the study was the evaluation of the quality of life and the acceptance of illness in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: 100 subsequent patients (90 women and 10 men) of mean age 50.9 years were enrolled into the study. They were operated due to goiter in General Surgery Department of Regional Hospital in Leszno between October 2017 and February 2018. The questionnaires WHO-QoL-BREF and the acceptance of illness (AIS) were applied in the study.

RESULTS: The significant worsening of QoL in both physical (p=0.007) and psychological (p<0.001) domains after the thyroidectomy was revealed. Quality of life in all the domains both before and after the thyroidectomy was significantly worse in the elderly (p<0.05). The acceptance of illness before surgery was good (30 points) and after the surgery was moderate (28 points) (p<0.001). Both before and after the thyroidectomy the older the patients were, the worse their acceptance of illness was (p<0.001). Only before surgery the patients with higher education accepted better their illness than the patients with secondary education (p=0.009). After surgery the acceptance of illness did not depend on education level.

CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life and acceptance of illness of the patients were significantly better before than after the thyroidectomy. Quality of life and acceptance of illness were significantly worse both in the elderly and in less educated patients.