Worldwide Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Cancer: Update on Epidemiology and Risk Factors
By G. Pellegriti, F. Frasca, C. Regalbuto, S. Squatrito, R. Vigneri. Journal of Cancer Epidemiology, 2013
1,284 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Background. In the last decades, thyroid cancer incidence has continuously and sharply increased all over the world. This review analyzes the possible reasons of this increase. Summary. Many experts believe that the increased incidence of thyroid cancer is apparent, because of the increased detection of small cancers in the preclinical stage. However, a true increase is also possible, as suggested by the observation that large tumors have also increased and gender differences and birth cohort effects are present. Moreover, thyroid cancer mortality, in spite of earlier diagnosis and better treatment, has not decreased but is rather increasing. Therefore, some environmental carcinogens in the industrialized lifestyle may have specifically affected the thyroid. Among potential carcinogens, the increased exposure to medical radiations is the most likely risk factor. Other factors specific for the thyroid like increased iodine intake and increased prevalence of chronic autoimmune thyroiditis cannot be excluded, while other factors like the increasing prevalence of obesity are not specific for the thyroid. Conclusions. The increased incidence of thyroid cancer is most likely due to a combination of an apparent increase due to more sensitive diagnostic procedures and of a true increase, a possible consequence of increased population exposure to radiation and to other still unrecognized carcinogens.
Subfields: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Immunology, Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/98e5205786be6f05d6f5c25edcc4d484207a552b
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Citations in the corpus
- Oxidative Stress, Prooxidants, and Antioxidants: The Interplay (2014, background): “The incidences of thyroid cancers have increased in the last decades worldwide which is most likely due to exposure of human population inmass to radiation causing increased free radical generation [138].”
- Trends in thyroid cancer incidence and mortality in the United States, 1974–2013 (2017, background): “Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (eg, pesticides, bisphenol A) also have been suspected to contribute to thyroid cancer incidence trends through their effects on thyroid hormonemetabolism.(36)However, evidence in support of a causal associationbetweenenvironmental chemicalsandthyroidcancer risk is cur”
- Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2011, Featuring Incidence of Breast Cancer Subtypes by Race/Ethnicity, Poverty, and State (2015, background): “The increasing rates of thyroid cancers demonstrate unique epidemiologic patterns by histology type, gender, and age, which suggest the rise may be because of a combination of enhanced diagnostic procedures as well as an actual increase in etiologic risk, perhaps because of increased radiation expos”
- Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975–2014, Featuring Survival (2017, background): “intermittent recreational sun exposures for melanoma (49) and radiation and other unrecognized carcinogens for thyroid cancer (52).”
- Cancer treatment and survivorship statistics, 2014 (2014, background): “However, others argue that the increase is in part real, and involves both small and large tumors.(90) Thyroid cancer commonly occurs at a younger age than most other adult cancers; the median age at diagnosis is 54 years for men and 49 years for women.”