Change in worry over time among Hispanic women with thyroid cancer

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess change in worry over time in Hispanic women with thyroid cancer.

Methods: Worry about recurrence, quality of life, family at risk, death, and harm from treatments was assessed in 273 Hispanic women with thyroid cancer diagnosed in 2014-2015. Subjects were recruited from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Los Angeles. Participants were surveyed at two points in time (time 1: 2017-2018 and time 2: 2019). Multivariable logistic regression was used to determine correlates with high worry (somewhat, quite a bit, very much) versus low worry (not at all, a little) at time 2.

Results: For the five worry items, 20.1-39.6% had high worry at both time 1 and time 2. An additional 7.6-13.4% had low worry at time 1 that became high worry at time 2. In multivariable logistic regression controlling for age, recurrence status, education level, and number of complications or side effects symptoms, younger age (20-39) as compared to older (40-79) was associated with high worry about thyroid cancer recurrence (OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.12-4.17). History of recurrent or persistent disease was associated with high worry about harms from treatment (OR 2.94, 95% CI 1.29-6.67). Greater number of complications or side effects of symptoms was associated with more worry across all five items.

Conclusions: Some Hispanic women with thyroid cancer have persistently high worry, with young adult Hispanic women vulnerable to worry about recurrence.

Implications for cancer survivors: Hispanic women with thyroid cancer may benefit from targeted psychosocial support during survivorship, with interventions informed by patient and cancer characteristics.

Keywords: AYA; Psychosocial; Survivorship; Thyroid cancer; Women; Worry.

Figure 1.. Study cohort selection (N=273).

Survey respondents at time 1 (2017–2018) are comprised of post-treatment survivors aged 18–79 years who had diagnoses of differentiated thyroid cancer reported to the Georgia and Los Angeles Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry between 2014 and 2015. Survey respondents at time 2 (May 2019 through December 2019) are comprised of Hispanic women aged 18–79 years who had previously completed time 1 survey.

Figure 2.. Distribution of Worry Over Time

Distribution of worry over time across five worry outcomes: Thyroid cancer recurrence; Quality of life being the same; Other family members at risk; Death from thyroid cancer; Harm from treatments. Percentages are represented for four groups: low worry at time 1 that remained low at time 2, high worry at time 1 that became low worry at time 2, low worry at time 1 that became high worry at time 2, and high worry at time 1 that remained high at time 2.