Measuring impact of benign thyroid diseases on quality of life

Quality of life (QoL), defined as “the subjective assessment of the impact of disease and its treatment across the physical, psychological, social, and somatic domains of functioning and well-being,” is measured by patient-reported outcomes, abbreviated PRO. PROs may be generic or disease specific. This article focuses on the latter, by reviewing existing thyroid-specific QoL measures or “PROs.” Thirteen instruments were reviewed, characterized and had their measurement properties evaluated. Eight of these were developed in accordance with current standards: Three instruments for patients with Graves’ orbitopathy: Graves’ orbitopathy quality of life instrument (GO-QOL), Graves’ ophthalmopathy quality of life scale (GO-QLS) and Thyroid eye disease quality of life scale (TED-QOL) and one triplet of instruments for patients with hypothyroidism, Underactive thyroid-dependent quality of life questionnaire (ThyDQoL), Thyroid symptom rating questionnaire (ThySRQ) and Thyroid treatment satisfaction questionnaire (ThyTSQ) and Thyroid-related patient reported outcome (ThyPRO/ThyPRO-39 (short-form)), for patients with any benign thyroid disease, and thus the only PRO validated for use among patients with non-toxic goiter and hyperthyroidism.