Patient Reported Outcome Measures of Health-Related Quality of Life and Asthenia after Thyroidectomy

Background: After thyroidectomy some patients experience a chronic fatigue syndrome called asthenia. The purpose of this study was to determine the post-operative health related quality of life (HRQOL) and risk of asthenia in patients undergoing thyroidectomy. Methods: A single institution prospective observational cohort study of adults undergoing thyroidectomy from September 2016 to July 2019 with four HRQOL surveys: preoperative baseline, 2 wk-, 6 mo- and 12 mo-postoperatively. Patients were surveyed using the Short Form 36 version 2 and Brief Fatigue Inventory. Asthenia was defined as Brief Fatigue Inventory > 60 at 12 mo. HRQOL was compared between patients undergoing thyroid lobectomy (TL) or total thyroidectomy (TT) with benign (-B) or malignant (-Ca) final pathology. Results: A total of 182 patients were included: 67 (37%) with TL-B, 32 (17%) with TL-Ca, 40 (22%) with TT-B, and 43 (24%) with TT-Ca. The incidence of asthenia was 42% for TT and 4% for TL. In the TL-B group, 2 patients (3%) developed asthenia, compared with 2 patients (6.25%) in the TL-Ca group, 14 patients (35%) in the TT-B group, and 21 (48.8%) in the TT-Ca group (P = 0.0001). The odds ratio of asthenia for TT compared to TL was 10.4 (95% CI 3.86-28.16) and for patients with malignancy compared to benign disease was 2.05 (95% CI 1.17-3.61). Conclusions: Patients undergoing TT have a higher risk of developing asthenia than those undergoing TL, particularly if the final pathology shows malignancy.