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‘True rise’ in thyroid cancer incidence, related mortality observed in California
CHICAGO — From 2000 to 2012, men with thyroid cancer and individuals with larger thyroid tumors experienced greater cancer-related mortality, and adults were diagnosed with thyroid cancers of all types at higher rates, according to findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Thyroid Association.
“Although we agree that the increased incidence of thyroid cancer over recent decades is primarily attributable to greater use of improved diagnostic techniques, our study also demonstrated a concurrent increase in incidence-based mortality, suggesting that there has also been a true biological increase of clinically significant disease as captured in a large, comprehensive statewide registry,” Kimberly Lim Yan, BS, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Angela M. Leung, MD, MSc, associate professor of medicine in the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism of the department of medicine of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told Endocrine Today. “We also found a significant increase in overall incidence-based mortality, particularly among men and individuals with larger tumor sizes.”
Yan, Leung and colleagues used data from the California Cancer Registry (2000-2012) to assess thyroid cancer diagnoses and incidence-based mortality.
Thyroid cancer was diagnosed in 44,943 individuals (median age, 49 years; 76.6% women). According to the researchers, regardless of tumor size and cancer type, there was an annual rise in thyroid incidence of roughly 5.3% each year from 2000 to 2012. In addition, mortality due to thyroid cancer increased by 1.7% annually among the total population, by 3.1% among men and by 5.9among individuals with tumors between 2 cm and 4 cm. The researchers noted that thyroid cancer mortality did not increase significantly among women.
“Previous studies have shown that overdiagnosis of thyroid cancer has been a concern for the last few decades,” Yan and Leung told Endocrine Today. “Our findings suggest that there has also been a concurrent true rise in thyroid cancer that must be addressed, whether this might be related to environmental exposures, their interactions with genetic factors and/or other risks that have yet to be identified.” – by Phil Neuffer
Reference:
Yan KL, et al. Poster 57. Presented at: 89th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association; Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2019; Chicago.
Disclosures: Yan and Leung report no relevant financial disclosures.