J Cancer Surviv

Purpose: Understand physician management of thyroid cancer-related worry. Methods: Endocrinologists, general surgeons, and otolaryngologists identified by Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) patients were surveyed 2018–2019 [response rate 69% (448/654)] and asked to rate in general their patients’ worry at diagnosis and action they take for worried patients. Multivariable weighted logistic regressions were conducted to determine physician characteristics associated with reporting thyroid cancer as “good cancer” and with encouraging patients to seek help managing worry outside the physician-patient relationship. Results: Physicians reported their patients as quite/very worried (65%), somewhat worried (27%) and a little/not worried (8%) at diagnosis. Conclusion / Implications for cancer survivors: Physicians perceive patient worry as common and address it with various approaches, with some approaches of unclear benefit. Efforts are needed to develop tailored interventions targeting survivors’ psychosocial needs.

32939685

PMC7960572

CDC Public Access