. 2022 Jun 22;11(8):e220014. doi: 10.1530/EC-22-0014

Table 1.

Patient baseline demographics, clinical characteristics, and HRQoL timing.

	Diagnostic surgery				Active surveillance		P
	Malignant		Benign		Active surveillance
	n = 29	%	n = 74	%	n = 23	%
Female	16	55%	65	88%	21	91%	<0.001^a
Age (years) (mean ± s.d.)	56.3 ± 14.5		53.5 ± 12.4		54.7 ± 16.0		0.61^b
General medical history	26	90%	63	85%	19	83%	0.75^a
Cardiovascular disease (incl. stroke)	11	38%	21	28%	6	26%	0.57^a
Malignancy	3	10%	7	9%	2	9%	0.98^a
Haematological disease (incl. malignancy)	3	10%	6	8%	1	4%	0.73^a
Neurological disease (excl. stroke)	6	21%	15	20%	6	26%	0.83^a
Otolaryngology disorders	5	17%	14	19%	4	17%	0.97^a
Lung disease	4	14%	11	15%	3	13%	0.97^a
Gastro-intestinal disease	8	28%	21	28%	5	22%	0.82^a
Urological or gynaecological disease	9	31%	27	36%	7	30%	0.80^a
Endocrine disease (excl. thyroid)	6	21%	9	12%	4	17%	0.52^a
Musculoskeletal disorder	14	48%	26	35%	7	30%	0.35^a
Psychiatric disorder	2	7%	4	5%	1	4%	0.92^a
Thyroid function
TSH, mU/L (median, IQR)	1.61 (1.09–2.35)		1.54 (0.92–2.40)		1.42 (0.48–2.20)		0.46^c
fT4, pmol/L (median, IQR)	14.45 (13.18–16.20)		14.30 (13.10–15.95)		15.05 (13.43–17.18)		0.62^c
Thyroid US
Solitary nodule	22	76%	53	72%	13	57%	0.28^a
Multinodular disease	7	24%	21	28%	10	43%
US nodule size, mm (median, IQR)	37 (27–50)		35 (25–40)		36 (16–47)		0.47^c
TNM stage
T1a	1	3%
T1b	5	17%
T2	13	45%
T3	10	34%
N0/x	27	93%
N1a	2	7%
N1b	0	0%
M0	29	100%
Highest educational level completed (n = 118)
Primary school	0	0%	4	6%	2	9%	0.12^a
Pre-vocational secondary education	7	10%	7	25%	6	27%
High school	1	4%	5	7%	2	9%
Vocational education	7	25%	12	18%	4	18%
Higher professional education	5	18%	30	44%	6	35%
University	8	29%	10	15%	2	9%
Employment status (n = 115)
Fulltime job	7	26%	14	21%	3	14%	0.15^a
Parttime job	9	33%	37	55%	8	38%
Unemployed	11	41%	16	24%	10	48%
Average work hours (hours/week) (median, IQR)	18 (0–36)		24 (6–32)		8 (0–30)		0.21^c
Time from baseline HRQoL assessment in months (median, IQR)
to FDG-PET/CT scan (n = 115)	−0.1 (−0.3–0)		−0.2 (−0.7–0)		0 (−0.6–0)		0.28^c
to diagnostic surgery (n = 94)	1.9 (1.3–3.6)		1.8 (1.2–3.5)				0.52^d
to cTT (n = 17)	5.6 (2.7–6.8)
to RAI (n = 16)	6.3 (3.6–8.4)
to follow-up US (n = 21)					10.6 (9.3–11.4)
to 3-month HRQoL assessment (n = 105)^e	3.1 (3.0–3.4)	n = 23	3.0 (2.8–3.3)	n = 62	3.0 (2.9–3.6)	n = 20	0.30^c
to 6-month HRQoL assessment (n = 103)^e	5.9 (5.9–6.0)	n = 23	6.0 (5.8–6.4)	n = 60	6.0 (5.8–6.6)	n = 20	0.81^c
to 12-month HRQoL assessment (n = 104)^e	11.9 (11.8–12.1)	n = 23	11.9 (11.8–12.2)	n = 60	12.0 (11.8–12.3)	n = 21	0.95^c

^aPearson’s chi-square test. ^bone-way ANOVA. ^cKruskal–Wallis test. ^dMann–Whitney U test. ^eThree, one, and two patients completed the 3-, 6-, and 12-month HRQoL assessment, respectively, but not the baseline HRQoL assessment.

cTT, completing total thyroidectomy; Excl., excluding; fT4, free thyroxine; reference range approximately 10–25 pmol/L (sex and age dependent); HRQoL, health-related quality of life; Incl., including; IQR, interquartile range; RAI, radioiodine therapy; TSH, thyroid-stimulating hormone; reference range 0.4–4.0 mU/L; US, ultrasound.