Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Impaired Quality of Life After Radioiodine Therapy Compared to Antithyroid Drugs or Surgical Treatment for Graves' Hyperthyroidism: A Long-Term Follow-Up with the Thyroid-Related Patient-Reported Outcome Questionnaire and 36-Item Short Form Health Status Survey.
Hyperthyroidism is known to have a significant impact on quality of life (QoL), at least in the short term. The purpose of the present study was to assess QoL in patients 6-10 years after treatment for Graves' disease (GD) with radioiodine (RAI) compared to those treated with thyroidectomy or antithyroid drugs (ATD) as assessed with both thyroid-specific Thyroid-Related Patient-Reported Outcome (ThyPRO) questionnaire and general (36-item Short Form Health Status) QoL survey. ⋯ GD is associated with a lower QoL many years after treatment compared to the general population. In a previous small randomized controlled trial, no difference was found in patient satisfaction years after ATD, RAI, or surgery. Now, it is reported that in a large non-randomized cohort, patients who received RAI had adverse scores on ThyPRO and 36-item Short Form Health Status survey. These findings in a Swedish population are limited by comparison to normative data from Denmark, older age, and possibly a more prolonged course in those patients who received RAI, and a lack of information regarding thyroid status at the time of evaluation. The way RAI may adversely affect QoL is unknown, but since the results may be important for future considerations regarding treatment options for GD, they need to be substantiated in further studies.