2023, Volume 16, Issue 3, pp 348 – 371

The “not so good” thyroid cancer: a scoping review on risk factors associated with anxiety, depression and quality of life

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Authors and Affiliations

Corresponding Author: Constantina Constantinou, Department of Basic and Clinical Sciences, University of Nicosia Medical School, Nicosia, Cyprus. E-mail: constantinou.co@unic.ac.cy

These authors contributed equally to this work

Abstract

The incidence of thyroid cancer has increased in recent years, leading to a growing number of survivors facing lifelong consequences. This scoping review investigated anxiety, depression, and quality of life (QoL) in thyroid cancer survivors compared to the general population, those with benign pathology, and survivors of other types of cancers. Moreover, we aimed to identify the risk factors associated with anxiety, depression, and QoL in thyroid cancer patients. A total of 727 articles were identified through PubMed, ProQuest, Cochrane, and Google Scholar databases, and 68 articles that met the criteria were selected for data extraction. Thyroid cancer survivors have a poorer QoL compared to the general population, population with benign pathology, and survivors of other types of cancer associated with worse clinical outcomes. The main risk factors are grouped into socioeconomic factors, disease-specific factors, management factors, comorbidities, and patient perceptions. Effective communication between the patient and the medical team and behavioral interventions may reduce these risks. Despite the common perception of thyroid cancer as a “good cancer,” the findings of this review demonstrate the need to address the risk factors associated with increased anxiety, depression, and lower QoL in survivors.

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About this article

PMC ID: 10165516
PubMed ID: 37168306
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2022-0204

Article Publishing Date (print): 3 2023
Available Online: 

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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