Patient Benefit-Risk Tradeoffs for Radioactive Iodine-Refractory Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Treatments
Table 3
Summary of patient characteristics.
Question
Number (%)
What is your gender?
Male
21 (15.7%)
Female
113 (84.3%)
What is your age? Mean (SD) years
47.2 (12.5)
What is your marital status?
Single/never married
16 (11.9%)
Married/living as married/civil partnership
104 (77.6%)
Divorced or separated
9 (6.7%)
Widowed/surviving partner
5 (3.7%)
Which of the following best describes your employment status?
Employed full-time/part-time/self-employed
78 (58.2%)
Homemaker/student/retired
40 (29.9%)
Disabled/unable to work/unemployed
16 (11.9%)
What type of health insurance do you have?
Public health insurance only
84 (62.7%)
Private health insurance
49 (36.6%)
Other
1 (0.7%)
Which of the following have you been told by a doctor or another health care provider that you have or have had?
Papillary thyroid cancer
117 (87.3%)
Follicular thyroid cancer
15 (11.2%)
Follicular variant of papillary thyroid cancer
1 (0.7%)
Medullary thyroid cancer
3 (2.2%)
Which of the following treatments have you used for your thyroid cancer?
Surgery
121 (90.3%)
Radioactive iodine
134 (100.0%)
Thyroid-stimulation hormone (TSH) suppression
49 (36.6%)
External beam radiation therapy (EBRT)
2 (1.5%)
Pills or tablets to stabilize or reduce the tumor size (systemic therapy)
11 (8.2%)
Other
4 (3.0%)
Approximately how long ago were you originally diagnosed with thyroid cancer?
Less than 2 years ago
43 (32.1%)
At least 2 years ago but less than 5 years ago
41 (30.6%)
At least 5 years ago
50 (37.3%)
Are you currently being treated for thyroid cancer tumors (excluding screening or regular monitoring)?
Yes
32 (23.9%)
No
102 (76.1%)
How many times has your doctor had you complete a radioactive iodine treatment to treat your cancer?
1
83 (61.9%)
2
40 (29.9%)
3
7 (5.2%)
More than 3
4 (3.0%)
Have you ever been diagnosed with high blood pressure?
Yes
26 (19.4%)
No
108 (80.6%)
SD = standard deviation. Respondents can tick more than one answer. 16 (61.5%) patients with high blood pressure were taking medicine to treat their high blood pressure.
