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Most common papillary thyroid cancer is microcarcinoma in those aged older than 45 years

Hughes DT. Thyroid. 2011;21:231-236.

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New data show a disproportionate increase in the incidence of papillary thyroid cancer among adults aged at least 45 years in the United States.

A retrospective evaluation of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results database revealed that the most commonly found papillary thyroid cancer tumor in the United States is a microcarcinoma in a patient aged older than 45 years.

“The incidence of papillary thyroid cancer is growing at a faster rate than any other malignancy,” the researchers wrote in the journal Thyroid. “However, it is unknown what effect age is having on the changing papillary thyroid cancer incidence rates.”

David T. Hughes, MD, of Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and colleagues at University of Michigan analyzed the changing demographics of patients with papillary thyroid cancer during the past 3 decades.

Between 1973 and 2006, the age group most commonly found to have thyroid cancer shifted from patients aged in their 30s to patients aged in their 40s and 50s. In 1973, 60% of papillary thyroid cancer cases were in patients aged younger than 45 years, and this trend persisted until 1999. After 1999, papillary thyroid cancer was more common in patients aged older than 45 years. Data from 2006 show that 61% of papillary thyroid cancer cases occurred in patients aged older than 45 years.

The researchers found an increasing incidence in papillary thyroid cancer tumors of all sizes in all age groups from 1988 to 2003. The largest increase in tumors of less than 1 cm was in patients aged older than 45 years. Currently, 43% of tumors in patients aged older than 45 years are less than 1 cm compared with 34% in patients aged younger than 45 years.

In 2003, 24% of 200,000 thyroid cancer cases were microcarcinomas in patients aged older than 45 years.

“These changing patterns relating age and incidence have important prognostic and treatment implications for patients with papillary thyroid cancer,” the researchers concluded.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

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