Purpose Previous studies have reported that over a third of cancer

Purpose Previous studies have reported that over a third of cancer patients experience significant psychological distress with diagnosis and treatment of cancer. discern significant factors associated with distress in thyroid malignancy patients. Results Our regression model was significant and explained 38.5% of the total variance in distress of this patient group. Anxious-preoccupation and helpless-hopeless factors around the mental adjustment to malignancy scale were significantly associated with distress in thyroid malignancy patients. Conclusion Unfavorable emotional response to malignancy diagnosis may be associated with distress in thyroid malignancy patients awaiting thyroidectomy. Screening MK-0679 of mental coping strategies at the beginning of malignancy treatment may predict psychological distress in malignancy patients. Further studies around the efficacy of psychiatric intervention during malignancy treatment may be needed for patients showing maladaptive psychological responses to malignancy. Keywords: Anxious preoccupation, helplessness hopelessness, distress, thyroid malignancy INTRODUCTION For the past two decades, the incidence of thyroid malignancy has rapidly increased around the world.1-3 In Korea, the incidence has increased by about 8 occasions from 1999 to 2008 with an average annual increasing rate of about 25% (25.3% in men, 25.7% in women), exhibiting the highest increasing rate among cancers.4 Thankfully, the number of disease-free survivors of thyroid malignancy are increasing, as thyroid malignancy is usually developed at a relatively younger age than other cancers,4,5 MK-0679 and well differentiated thyroid malignancy (DTC) is the most common type, which has a very good prognosis.1 Besides classical vital signs and pain, distress has been suggested as the sixth vital sign in malignancy patients.6 Psychological distress among thyroid malignancy patients is an important issue in regards to their quality of life (QoL). Although controversies concerning the management of DTC remain unresolved, most patients with thyroid malignancy undergo a surgical operation followed by selective radioactive iodine remnant ablation and thyroid stimulating hormone suppressive therapy with levo-thyroxine. Previous studies reported a decline in QoL after treatment of thyroid malignancy,7-9 and emotional distress was the major determinant of the decreased QoL for the patients with thyroid malignancy.10 Individual psychological characteristics among patients can modulate distress and emotional symptoms. Mental adjustment to malignancy and coping strategies for cancer-related problems have been considered as important determinants of distress and QoL in malignancy patients.11,12 Thus, assessing psychological responses to malignancy is essential to managing distress and to improving QoL in patients. Mental adjustment to malignancy (MAC) can be defined as an individual patient’s cognitive and behavioral response to diagnosis with malignancy. Mental adjustment comprises two components including cognitive appraisal, the patient’s personal perceptions of the implications of malignancy, and following reactions, the patient’s thought and behavior towards alleviating the threat raised with malignancy Mouse monoclonal to CRTC2 diagnosis.13 Studies on mental health for thyroid malignancy patients are not sufficient, as most studies on psychological distress and mental modification have already been conducted for breasts cancer individuals.14,15 Usually, individuals may encounter stress and related emotional symptoms if they are informed of experiencing cancers. 16 Stress in thyroid cancer individuals might change with the span of cancer treatment. Stress amounts and mental modification to tumor have to be examined at the proper period of tumor analysis, as individuals are susceptible to stress in this era specifically, and early intervention to diminish distress among cancer individuals might enhance their QoL through the entire treatment period. However, most research on stress and emotional outward indications of thyroid tumor individuals have already been performed after conclusion of active cancers treatment or among disease-free survivors.10,17,18 With this scholarly research, we investigated global stress, mental adjustment to tumor, in addition to cancer-related and demographic clinical features MK-0679 in individuals with thyroid tumor, to thyroidectomy prior, to get significant correlates of stress in the first cancer analysis phase. Between June 2010 and March 2011 Components AND Strategies Individuals, among 185 individuals who were recently identified as having well-differentiated thyroid tumor and awaiting thyroidectomy in the Thyroid Tumor Center from the Yonsei College or university Gangnam Severance Medical center, 161 individuals.

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