Health-Related Quality of Life Among Thyroid Cancer Survivors in India: Insights from the Modified City of Hope-QOL Thyroid Version Questionnaire.

[UNLABELLED] The purpose of this study is to assess the HRQOL and identify the potential risk factors for its deterioration in thyroid cancer (TC) survivors in India. We also aim to strengthen the existing COH-QOL (thyroid) Questionnaire by adding two missing items of tingling or numbness and scar on the neck in the physical and psychological domains, respectively. TC survivors were recruited from the ENT OPD and the Uttarakhand Thyroid Surgeries Registry System from a period of 2017 to 2022. Participants completed a Hindi-validated modified version of the COH-QOL (thyroid) Questionnaire to assess QOL domains. The correlation of QOL scores with different health conditions was done. QOL is affected after the initial TC diagnosis and treatment, with poorer scores in all domains. Quality of work is the most affected item in the social domain. The potential risk factors for deterioration in QOL scores are age, gender, employment, educational status, stage of disease, comorbidities, extent of surgery, hypocalcemia, RAI therapy, and thyroid hormone withdrawal. Given the rapidly increasing number of TC survivors, mostly of the middle age group, and the fact that it grossly affects the work performance scale, our study will help to develop robust monitoring tools, awareness programs, intervention strategies, and TC-specific survivorship plans.

[SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION] The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13193-025-02329-1.