Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

An update in international trends in incidence rates of thyroid cancer, 1973–2007

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Cancer Causes & Control Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Over the past several decades, there has been a reported increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer in many countries. We previously reported an increase in thyroid cancer incidence across continents between 1973 and 2002. Here, we provide an update on the international trends in thyroid cancer between 2003 and 2007.

Methods

We examined thyroid cancer incidence data from the Cancer Incidence in Five Continents (CI5) database for the period between 1973 and 2007 from 24 populations in the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania, and report on the time trends as well as the distribution by histologic type and gender worldwide.

Results

The incidence of thyroid cancer increased during the period from 1998–2002 to 2003–2007 in the majority of populations examined, with the highest rates observed among women, most notably in Israel and the United States SEER registry, at over 14 per 100,000 people. This update suggests that incidence is rising in a similar fashion across all regions of the world. The histologic and gender distributions in the updated CI5 are consistent with the previous report.

Conclusions

Our analysis of the published CI5 data illustrates that the incidence of thyroid cancer increased between 1998–2002 and 2003–2007 in most populations worldwide, and rising rates continue in all regions of the world.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Forman D, Bray F, Brewster D, Gombe Mbalawa C, Kohler B, Pineros M, Steliarova-Focher E, Swaminathan R, Ferlay J (2014) Cancer Incidence in Fve Continents vol X. No. 164. IARC Scientific Publications, Lyon

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ahn H, Kim H, Welch G (2014) Korea’s thyroid-cancer “epidemic”—screening and over diagnosis. N Engl J Med 371:1765–1776

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. American Cancer Society (2018) Cancer facts & figures. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-orwww.cancer.org/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2018/cancer-facts-and-figures-2018.pdfg/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2018/cancer-facts-and-figures-2018.pdf. Accessed 8 March 2018

  4. Bann DV, Goyal N, Camacho F, Goldenberg D (2014) Increasing incidence of thyroid cancer in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 140(12):1149–1156

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Ramirez-Vick M, Nieves-Rodriguez M, Lugaro-Gomez A, Perez-Irizarry J (2011) Increasing incidence of thyroid cancer in Puerto Rico 1985–2004. P R Health Sci J 30(3):109–115

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Amphlett B, Lawson Z, Abdulrahman GO Jr, White C, Bailey R, Premawardhana L, Okosieme OE (2013) Recent trends in the incidence geographical distribution and survival from thyroid cancer in Wales 1985–2010. Thyroid 23(11):1470–1478

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Pazaitou-Panayiotou K, Iliadou P, Chrisoulidou A, Mitsakis P, Doumala E, Fotareli A, Boudina M, Mathiopoulou L, Patakiouta F, Tziomalos K (2013) The increase in thyroid cancer incidence is not only due to papillary microcarcinomas: a 40-year study in 1 778 patients. Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes 121(7):397–401

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Xie S, Chen J, Zhang B, Wang F, Li S, Xie C, Tse L, Cheng J (2014) Time trends and age-period-cohort analyses on incidence rates of thyroid cancer in Shanghai and Hong Kong. BMC Cancer 14:975

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Sokouti M, Montazeri V, Fakhrjou A, Samankan S, Goldust M (2013) Thyroid cancer clinical and histopathological study on patients under 25 years in Tabriz Iran (2000–2012). Pak J Biol Sci 16(24):2003–2008

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Kilfoy BA, Zheng T, Holford TR, Han X, Ward MH, Sjodin A, Zhang Y, Bai Y, Zhu C, Guo GL, Rothman N, Zhang Y (2009) International patterns and trends in thyroid cancer incidence 1973–2002. Cancer Causes Control 20(5):525–531

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Pellegriti G, Frasca F, Regalbuto C, Squatrito S, Vigneri R (2013) Worldwide increasing incidence of thyroid cancer: update on epidemiology and risk factors. J Cancer Epidemiol

  12. Burgess JR. Skabo S, McArdle K, Tucker P (2002) Temporal trends for thyroid carcinoma in Australia: an increasing incidence of papillary thyroid carcinoma (1982–1997). Thyroid 12(2):141–149

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Leenhardt L, Grosclaude P, Chérié-Challine L (2004) Increased incidence of thyroid carcinoma in France: a true epidemic or thyroid nodule management effects? Report from the French Thyroid Cancer Committee. Thyroid 14(12):1056–1060

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Lim H, Devesa SS, Sosa JA, Check D, Kitahara CM (2017) Trends in thyroid cancer incidence and mortality in the United States, 1974–2013. JAMA 317(13):1338–1348

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Londero SC, Krogdahl A, Bastholt L, Overgaard J, Pedersen HB, Frisch T, Bentzen J, Pedersen PU, Christiansen P, Godballe C (2010) Papillary thyroid carcinoma in Denmark 1996–2008: an investigation of changes in incidence. Am J Surg 200(4):462–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Curado MP, Edwards B, Shin HR, Storm H, Ferlay J, Heanue M, Boyle P (2007) Cancer Incidence in Five Continents vol IX No 160. IARC Scientific Publications, Lyon

    Google Scholar 

  17. Parkin DM, Whelan SL, Ferlay J, Storm H (2005) Cancer Incidence in Five Continents vol I to VIII No 7. IARC CancerBase, Lyon

    Google Scholar 

  18. WHO Cancer Mortality Database (2016) World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer. Accessed 16 December 2016

  19. Verkooijen H, Fioretta G, Pache J, Franceschi S, Raymond L, Schubert H, Bouchardy C (2003) Diagnostic changes as a reason for the increase in papillary thyroid cancer incidence in Geneva, Switzerland. Cancer Causes Control 14(1):13–17

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Montanaro F, Pury P, Bordoni A, Lutz JM, Swiss Cancer Registries Network (2006) Unexpected additional increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer among a recent birth cohort in Switzerland. Eur J Cancer Prev 15(2):178–186

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Aschebrook-Kilfoy B, DellaValle C, Purdue M, Kim C, Zhang Y, Sjodin A, Ward M (2015) Polybrominated diphenyl ethers and thyroid cancer risk in the prostate colorectal lung and ovarian cancer screening trial cohort. Am J Epidemiol 181(11):883–888

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Zeng Q, Chen CG, Vlantis A, van Hasselt C (2007) Oestrogen mediates the growth of human thyroid carcinoma cells via an oestrogen receptor-ERK pathway. Cell Prolif 40(6):921–935

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Chen G, Vlantis A, Zeng Q, van Hasselt C (2008) Regulation of cell growth by estrogen signaling and potential targets in thyroid cancer. Curr Cancer Drug Targets 8(5):367–377

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Kumar A, Klinge C, Goldstein R (2010) Estradiol-induced proliferation of papillary and follicular thyroid cancer cells is mediated by estrogen receptors alpha and beta. Int J Oncol 36(5):1067–1080

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rajoria S, Suriano R, Shanmugam A, Wilson Y, Schantz SP, Geliebter J, Tiwari R (2010) Metastatic phenotype is regulated by estrogen in thyroid cells. Thyroid 20(1):33–41

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Derwahl M, Nicula D (2014) Estrogen and its role in thyroid cancer. Endocr Relat Cancer 21(5):T273–T283

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Shindo H, Amino N, Ito Y, Kihara M, Kobayashi K, Miya A, Hirokawa M, MIyauchi A (2014) Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma might progress during pregnancy. Thyroid 24(5):840–844

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Messuti I, Corvisieri S, Bardesono F, Rapa I, Giorcelli J, Pellerito R, Volante M, Orlandi F (2014) Impact of pregnancy on prognosis of differentiated thyroid cancer: clinical and molecular features. Eur J Endocrinol 170(5):659–666

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

James, B.C., Mitchell, J.M., Jeon, H.D. et al. An update in international trends in incidence rates of thyroid cancer, 1973–2007. Cancer Causes Control 29, 465–473 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-018-1023-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-018-1023-2

Keywords

Navigation