Endocrine Abstracts

JOINT2616

Background: Despite the high incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), the overall mortality has remained low. Combined with a younger age at diagnosis, thyroid cancer prevalence is higher than expected necessitating a focus on survivorship issues, lifelong surveillance and transitioning low-risk DTC survivors to primary care. A recent pan-Canadian study showed that survivors of other cancers consistently report several unmet physical and psychosocial needs. However, the specific needs of DTC survivors remain unknown.

Objectives: 1) To describe the self-reported physical, emotional, practical and informational needs of low-risk DTC survivors in Nova Scotia, Canada, during the transition period to primary care; and 2) To compare the physical, emotional, practical and informational needs of low-risk DTC survivors with those of melanoma, breast, colorectal, hematological and prostate cancer survivors.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey using the 83 item “Cancer Transition Survey” was conducted based on the national Experiences of Cancer Patients in Transition Study. The survey was administered to adult patients with low-risk DTC who have been discharged, or were ready for discharge, from specialist to primary care. Survey data from DTC survivors were compared with data from other cancer survivors previously surveyed as part of the national study.

Results: A total of 205 patients responded, with a response rate of 54.6%. Most respondents in the DTC sample were female (81.2%), more than half were in the 55-to 74-year-old age category. All patients had total thyroidectomy +/- I-131 therapy and were prescribed thyroid replacement therapy targeting TSH in a normal range. The most commonly reported post-treatment needs were fatigue (81.3%), anxiety/fear of recurrence (69.5%) and depression/low mood (46.3%). When compared with non-thyroid cancer survivors, DTC survivors reported higher rates of fatigue (81.3% vs. 64.3%, p-value < 0.001). Otherwise, supportive care needs of DTC survivors were similar to those of non-thyroid cancer survivors.

Conclusion: Both DTC survivors and other cancer survivors share similar supportive care needs. While fatigue is common across all cancer survivors, we found that post-treatment fatigue is significantly more prevalent in DTC survivors.