Health-related Quality of Life with Benign Thyroid Diseases: a Patient's Perspective from Urban Cities of Pakistan

Benign thyroid disorders are common clinical entities with a prominent female preponderance. There are no studies from Pakistan that measured health-related quality of life of patients with benign thyroid disorders. This study assesses the health-related quality of life in patients with benign thyroid disorders from urban cities of Pakistan. A cross-sectional study involving 191 patients was conducted from July through November 2012 at three tertiary-care hospitals in three cities of Pakistan. An interview-based questionnaire containing the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), socio-demographics, and sleep disturbances were assessed. Data was analysed in SPSS Version 20. All ethical considerations were taken into account. One hundred and thirty-eight (72%) females and 53 (28%) males were evaluated. The mean age was 34.22 ± 11.1 years with slightly more than half (57.1%) patients were between 21 to 40 years. There was significant decrease in SF-36 scores in all domains. The scores of Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) was statistically significant (p<0.05) in males as compared to females. A significant 86% of the patients reported various sleep disturbances. Hair changes were the most common reported symptom followed by slow movements, mainly in the hyperthyroid group (42.4% and 44.1% respectively). This study reported a decrease in health-related quality of life among patients with benign thyroid disorders. The results can be helpful to plan improvements in managements of benign thyroid diseases, eventually improving health-related quality of life.