Associations among anxiety, depression, physical quality of life, and fear of recurrence in post-thyroidectomy thyroid cancer survivors

Thyroid cancer survivors experience a survival rate upwards of 90%. Despite their excellent prognosis, these survivors often experience lower levels of quality of life, anxiety, and depression. This decreased functioning has been shown to be related to fear of cancer recurrence in studies of survivors of other types of cancer. Fear of cancer recurrence occurs in cancer survivors regardless of cancer type or time since treatment. Establishing the prevalence of fear of recurrence in thyroid cancer survivors, as well as determining the relationship between quality of life and fear of recurrence is important to assess if interventions could be warranted. The current cross-sectional observational study of 57 thyroid cancer survivors, who have undergone total thyroidectomy surgery in the past ten years, used an online survey to assess quality of life, anxiety, depression, and fear of cancer recurrence. Participants had a mean duration of 2.61 years from thyroid removal surgery. Around half (47.3%) of participants reported moderate or severe level of concern regarding cancer recurrence. Thirty-six percent of patients experienced clinically significant levels of anxiety. Higher levels of fears of recurrence were found to be related to decreased quality of life, decreased physical quality of life, and higher levels of general anxiety. Depression was not found to be related to fear of recurrence. These results reflect those found in survivors of other cancer types. Strategies to decrease distress in thyroid cancer survivors should be examined, particularly interventions targeting anxiety.