Neuropsychologic changes in primary hyperparathyroidism after parathyroidectomy from a dual-institution prospective study.

BACKGROUND: The impact of parathyroidectomy on neuropsychiatric symptoms in primary hyperparathyroidism remains poorly defined. The validated scales Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 can be used to assess depression and anxiety, respectively. Our aim was to prospectively characterize the changes in neuropsychiatric symptoms after parathyroidectomy.
METHODS: Patients undergoing parathyroidectomy and thyroidectomy (control) from two institutions between 2014 and 2019 were prospectively administered a questionnaire assessing neuropsychiatric symptoms before and after surgery. Paired t tests compared preoperative with postoperative neuropsychiatric symptoms and t tests compared differences in neuropsychiatric symptoms between parathyroidectomy and thyroidectomy.
RESULTS: A total of 244 patients underwent parathyroidectomy and 161 underwent thyroidectomy. We observed improvement in neuropsychiatric symptoms after parathyroidectomy (6.2 [5.0-7.4], P < .01). Preoperatively, neuropsychiatric symptoms were more prevalent in patients undergoing parathyroidectomy when compared with thyroidectomy (11.2 ± 11.5 vs 7.5 ± 8.2, P < .01); however, after surgery there was no difference between the two groups (5.1 ± 7.1 vs 5.4 ± 7.2, P = .59). Preoperatively, 27.5% and 18.0% of patients endorsed moderate to severe depression and anxiety, which fell to 8.2% and 5.3%, respectively, (P < .01) after surgery.
CONCLUSION: Patients undergoing parathyroidectomy showed significant improvement in neuropsychiatric symptoms after surgery. Neuropsychiatric symptoms are more prevalent in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. Neuropsychiatric symptoms should be assessed in all patients with primary hyperparathyroidism and should be considered a relative indication for parathyroidectomy.