Distress and related factors in patients with papillary thyroid cancer just before the radioactive iodine therapy: Does perceived social support predict distress?

Objective: Since radioactive iodine therapy (RIT) applied in the treatment of patients with papillary thyroid cancer requires isolation, the distress in this period is a difficult issue for the clinician to cope with. Therefore, we aimed to address the prevalence of distress just before RIT, to examine some sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with distress, and to determine the relation-ship between distress and perceived social support. Method: Psychiatric examination of 143 patients was performed. Distress thermometer (DT), hospital anxiety depression scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were applied. Those with a cut-off score of 4 and above in DT were included in the distressed group. Results: The prevalence of dis-tress was 78%. Those with distress had more psy-chopathology, low and high income, comorbid physical illness, higher anxiety and depression scores, and lower MSPSS scores. Family problems, physical problems and depressive symptoms were predictors of distress. Discussion: Prevalence of distress is high among thyroid cancer patients just before RIT. Since psychopathology, anxiety, and depressive symptoms are more common in distressed group, the clinician's request for psychiatric consultation before RIT will facilitate coping with the dis-tress du-ring the isolation process. On the other hand, family problems, which can be considered as the nega-tive aspect of social support, seem to predict distress. Since physical problems and depressive symptoms also predict distress, it is important to consider the medical and psychosocial factors as a whole when assessing the patient's distress.