Demographic and Temporal Trends in Thyroid Cancer Incidence in the United States From 1999 to 2020: An Analysis of Age, Gender, and Race.

PURPOSE

Thyroid cancer is a growing concern in public health and has noticeable disparities in incidence among demographic subgroups and regions. This study analyzed the incidence of thyroid cancer from 1999 to 2020 using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC-WONDER) database, focusing on age, race, and gender. Additionally, the study sought to identify geographical disparities in thyroid cancer incidence and understand temporal trends over the study period.

METHODS

The study extracted thyroid cancer incidences from the CDC-WONDER database from 1999 to 2020 by age, race, and gender demographics. Crude incidence rates were calculated based on a 100,000 population, and temporal trends were identified to peak incidence periods, using Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA) and RStudio version 4.3.1 (Posit Software, Boston, MA).

RESULTS

The data included a total population of 6,722,531,004, with 837,105 (0.0124%) diagnosed cases of thyroid cancer between 1999 and 2020. The crude rate was highest in the 65-74-year age group with a rate of 22.5 per 100,000, in females at 18.4 per 100,000, and in the White race with a rate of 13.2 per 100,000, while California had the highest statewise distribution, exceeding 75,000 per 100,000 population. From temporal trends, there is a general increasing trend in the incidence of thyroid cancer, with the crude incidence rate for the period under study amounting to 12.5 per 100,000 population, and a peak observed in 2015.

CONCLUSION

The findings point to significant demographic and geographic disparities in the incidence of thyroid cancer across the United States. Such an insight should be crucial for designing directed public health interventions and well-conceived screening protocols for high-risk subgroups. Geographic disparities further aid in resource mobilization and health service planning. This study emphasizes the importance of good cancer surveillance and continuous monitoring of public health strategies, which would provide early detection to attain better patient outcomes.