Ethnic patterns of thyroid cancer incidence in the United States, 1973‐1981

Abstract

Descriptive epidemiological findings for 7,696 patients with newly diagnosed thyroid cancer reported to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program for the years 1973 through 1981 are summarized. The preponderance of this tumor in women and of the papillary histologic subtype are well documented. The data suggest that previously reported increases in the incidence of thyroid cancer among Whites levelled off in the late 1970s. Differences in the incidence of this cancer according to ethnic group were particularly striking. Compared with White men and women, Puerto Rico Hispanics and Blacks had significantly lower thyroid cancer rates (weighted rate ratios ranged from 0.48 to 0.65). New Mexico Hispanic men and Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Filipino men and women had significantly higher rates (weighted rate ratios ranged from 1.56 to 3.17). Elevated thyroid cancer rates for residents of Hawaii, regardless of ethnic group, were also a noteworthy finding. Variations in thyroid cancer risk according to ethnic group and geographical residence may reflect socio-economic or local environmental influences, including the possibility of a carcinogenic agent in volcanic lava.

Increasing thyroid cancer incidence in Canada, 1970–1996: time trends and age-period-cohort effects

“…The increase almost entirely comes from papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, with the greatest increase among young and middle-age women. This observation is similar to reports from the United States (Spitz et al, 1988;Zheng et al, 1996), Sweden (Pettersson et al, 1991), Norway (Akslen et al, 1993) and Britain (Dos Santos Silva and Swerdlow, 1993). Ageperiod-cohort modelling further shows that both birth cohort and period effects are responsible for the observed trends among females, while a birth cohort effect is the main determinant for the observed increase among males.…”

“…Furthermore, the thyroid gland may be included in the radiation field when either the upper body or the chest is exposed to X-rays. The susceptibility to radiation-induced thyroid cancer is the greatest for examinations occurring in childhood and adolescence (Boice, 1986;Ron et al, 1987;Spitz et al, 1988). Thus, our results suggest that the increasing trends in thyroid cancer incidence in Canada could be associated with change in radiation exposure in childhood and adolescence; nevertheless, the increases observed are larger than can be explained by the levels associated with current diagnostic procedures.…”

“…Previous epidemiological studies have indicated that prior radiotherapy in childhood increases the risk of thyroid cancer (Boice, 1986;Ron et al, 1987;Spitz et al, 1988;Dos Santos Silva and Swerdlow, 1993;Inskip et al, 1995;Zheng et al, 1996;Mao et al, in press). Shore (1992) estimated that the risk of thyroid cancer associated with juvenile external irradiation is about 2.6 excess cancer/10 000 persons/year/gray.…”

Time trends and geographic variations for thyroid cancer in New Caledonia, a very high incidence area (1985–1999)

“…Ethnic differences in incidence has also been noted in Hawaii with higher rates among Filipinos than in other ethnic groups (Goodman et al, 1988). In United States, Black men and women had significantly lower rates than Whites (Spitz et al, 1988). In addition to geographic and ethnic variations of thyroid cancer incidence, marked increases of thyroid cancer incidence, essentially papillary carcinomas, were observed in North America (Zheng et al, 1996;Liu et al, 2001;Hodgson et al, 2004), Europe (Akslen et al, 1993;dos Santos Silva and Swerdlow, 1993;Colonna et al, 2002;Verkooijen et al, 2003;Mahoney et al, 2004;Reynolds et al, 2005) and Australia (Burgess, 2002).…”

The "rings of fire" and thyroid cancer

“…8 Another study conducted in the USA included 7,696 patients with newly diagnosed thyroid cancer reported to the SEER registry between 1973 and 1981. 9 Striking differences in TC among the various ethnic groups were detected. Thus, Puerto Rico Hispanics and Blacks had significantly lower thyroid cancer rates than New Mexico Hispanic men, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Filipino men and women.…”