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Health Anxiety and Its Relationship to Thyroid-Hormone-Suppression Therapy in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Zoltek, Maximilian ; Andersson, Therese M.L. ; Axelsson, Erland ; Hedman, Christel LU and Lundgren, Catharina Ihre (2022) In Cancers 14(10).
Abstract

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) has a good prognosis; however, patients often need lifelong follow up, and they face potential side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate health anxiety among DTC patients and its relationship to TSH suppression. In 2020, patients from a previous cohort who were from Stockholm completed the 14-item Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI-14; 0–42; 18 being the threshold for clinical significance) and a study-specific questionnaire. Clinical information was also retrieved from medical records. Linear regression was used to investigate the relationship between the TSH levels and the SHAI-14, while adjusting for potential confounders. In total, 146 (73%) patients were included. A total of 24... (More)

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) has a good prognosis; however, patients often need lifelong follow up, and they face potential side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate health anxiety among DTC patients and its relationship to TSH suppression. In 2020, patients from a previous cohort who were from Stockholm completed the 14-item Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI-14; 0–42; 18 being the threshold for clinical significance) and a study-specific questionnaire. Clinical information was also retrieved from medical records. Linear regression was used to investigate the relationship between the TSH levels and the SHAI-14, while adjusting for potential confounders. In total, 146 (73%) patients were included. A total of 24 respondents (16%) scored 18 or more on the SHAI-14, and the mean score was 11.3. Patients with TSH levels of 0.1–0.5 (mE/L) scored, on average, 3.28 points more (p-value 0.01) on the SHAI-14 compared to patients with TSH levels > 0.5. There was no statistically significant difference between patients with TSH levels < 0.1 and TSH levels > 0.5. Thus, we found no linear relationship between the TSH values and health anxiety. Clinically significant levels of health anxiety are slightly higher than those in the general population, but do not appear to be a major psychiatric comorbidity among patients with DTC.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
differentiated thyroid cancer, health anxiety, thyroid-stimulating hormone
in
Cancers
volume
14
issue
10
article number
2349
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • pmid:35625954
  • scopus:85129891227
ISSN
2072-6694
DOI
10.3390/cancers14102349
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1150e781-94f4-48a9-ba46-6a25020eb0e2
date added to LUP
2022-08-25 10:43:07
date last changed
2024-07-23 13:28:22
@article{1150e781-94f4-48a9-ba46-6a25020eb0e2,
  abstract     = {{<p>Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) has a good prognosis; however, patients often need lifelong follow up, and they face potential side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate health anxiety among DTC patients and its relationship to TSH suppression. In 2020, patients from a previous cohort who were from Stockholm completed the 14-item Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI-14; 0–42; 18 being the threshold for clinical significance) and a study-specific questionnaire. Clinical information was also retrieved from medical records. Linear regression was used to investigate the relationship between the TSH levels and the SHAI-14, while adjusting for potential confounders. In total, 146 (73%) patients were included. A total of 24 respondents (16%) scored 18 or more on the SHAI-14, and the mean score was 11.3. Patients with TSH levels of 0.1–0.5 (mE/L) scored, on average, 3.28 points more (p-value 0.01) on the SHAI-14 compared to patients with TSH levels &gt; 0.5. There was no statistically significant difference between patients with TSH levels &lt; 0.1 and TSH levels &gt; 0.5. Thus, we found no linear relationship between the TSH values and health anxiety. Clinically significant levels of health anxiety are slightly higher than those in the general population, but do not appear to be a major psychiatric comorbidity among patients with DTC.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zoltek, Maximilian and Andersson, Therese M.L. and Axelsson, Erland and Hedman, Christel and Lundgren, Catharina Ihre}},
  issn         = {{2072-6694}},
  keywords     = {{differentiated thyroid cancer; health anxiety; thyroid-stimulating hormone}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Cancers}},
  title        = {{Health Anxiety and Its Relationship to Thyroid-Hormone-Suppression Therapy in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers14102349}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/cancers14102349}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}