393 Health-related quality of life following [18F]FDG-PET/CT 7 Statistical analysis Baseline characteristics were compared between groups using the Pearson chi square test for categorical data and the one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, or Mann-Whitney U test for (log-) normally or non-normally distributed continuous data, where appropriate. We used multiple imputation to account for possible selectively missing data in the questionnaires, using age at baseline, sex, allocation (i.e., study arm in EfFECTS trial), EQ-5D-5L utilities, and time-dependent variables for thyroid surgery and the benign or malignant local histopathological diagnosis as predictor variables. Univariate comparison of HRQoL scores between groups was performed using independent samples t-test with unequal variances; within-group differences over time were assessed using paired t-tests. Next, we constructed a mixed linear model for each of the EQ-5D-5L, RAND-36 and ThyPRO scales to analyse repeated measures and evaluate longitudinal changes in HRQoL within and between groups. First, we constructed a model to assess the changes over time within each of the three groups separately. The final model was a random intercept model that used longitudinal data from all four HRQoL assessments and adjusted for fixed effects of the time of the questionnaire, and for a random component of within-subject correlations between the repeated measurements. Second, we constructed a random intercept model to assess between-group differences over time, which additionally included fixed effects for the group and the interaction between time and group. For all analyses, a p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Statistics (version 27, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results Of the 132 patients who participated in the EfFECTS trial, 126 were included in the current study (Figure 1). Patients with thyroid malignancy were less frequently female as compared to benign histopathology and patients under surveillance (p<0.001). Other baseline characteristics were evenly distributed across the three groups (Table 1). One hundred and fifteen (91.3%) patients fully completed the baseline assessment, and 108 (85.7%), 104 (82.5%) and 106 (84.1%) patients completed the 3-month, 6-month and 12-month assessments, respectively. The baseline HRQoL assessment was completed 3 days (median, IQR 0-17) after the [18F]FDG-PET/CT was performed. Patients under surveillance completed the 12-month assessment 38 days (median, IQR 10-69) after their protocolled one-year follow-up ultrasound.
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