Cognitive impairment in women newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer before treatment

• Published in: Supportive care in cancer Vol. 30; no. 11; pp. 8959 - 8967
• Main Authors: Jung, Mi Sook, Visovatti, Moira, Kim, Mijung, Cha, Kyengin, Dlamini, Nondumiso, Cui, Xirong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.11.2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cancer; Care and treatment; Cognition; Cognition Disorders - psychology; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis; Cognitive Dysfunction - epidemiology; Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology; Drug therapy; Fatigue - etiology; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Hypothyroidism; Medical diagnosis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metastasis; Neuropsychological Tests; Neuropsychology; Nursing; Nursing Research; Oncology; Original Article; Pain Medicine; Regression analysis; Rehabilitation Medicine; Sleep disorders; Stress (Psychology); Thyroid cancer; Thyroid gland; Thyroid Neoplasms - complications; Women; Cognitive changes; Symptoms; Thyroid cancer
• ISSN: 0941-4355; 1433-7339
• DOI: 10.1007/s00520-022-07299-6

Purpose The study aims to assess cognitive function in women newly diagnosed with non-metastatic thyroid cancer before any treatment and to identify factors associated with cognitive problems. Methods Korean women newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer awaiting initial surgical treatment ( n  = 130) completed neuropsychological tests and self-report questionnaires on symptom distress and psychological distress. Additionally, information on thyroid function was obtained through a medical chart audit. Descriptive statistics and multivariable regression analyses were performed to describe the incidence of cognitive problems and to identify possible predictors of neuropsychological performance. Results Approximately 95% of women newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer had impaired neuropsychological test scores on one or more tests of attention and cognitive control. Further analyses found that 78% of women met both the Global Deficit Score and the International Cancer and Cognition Task Force criteria for impairment. Finally, regression analyses found that older age, fewer years of education, greater depressed mood, and having a hypothyroid state but not having a comorbid condition, fatigue, sleep problems, symptom burden, or symptom interference were associated with worse neuropsychological test performance in this sample. Additional explorative regression analysis using mean T -scores corrected for age, education, and gender continued to find that hypothyroid state was associated with worse neuropsychological test performance. Conclusions Findings suggest that individuals newly diagnosed with non-metastatic thyroid cancer are vulnerable to cognitive deficits at diagnosis before any treatment. As such, healthcare workers should assess individuals newly diagnosed with thyroid cancer diagnosis awaiting treatment for the disease for cognitive deficits and intervene to reduce symptom distress and optimize function.