Houda Boukheris, Noureddine Bachir Bouiadjra, Mohamed Boubekeur, Kaouel Meguenni and Necib Berber
Objectives: Incidencera tes of thyroid cancer have dramatically incerased over recent deacdes in many countries, particularly papillary histotype tumors and small carcinomas. We carried out an analysis to assess thyroid cancer incidence and trends by demographic and tumor characteristics among1 443 thyroid cancer patients diagnosed between 1993 and 2013 in Oran district, in North-west Algeria.
Methods: Information onth yroid cancer cases were abstracted through medical records and pathology reports. We used the International Classification for Diseases in Oncology, 3rd edition to characterize morphologies. We calculated age-specific, age-adjusted incidencer ates per 100 000 person-years, and annual percent changes (APC) in the incidence.
Results: Age-standardized incidence was 11.7 per 100 000 for females and 2.0 per 100 000 for males. Thyroid cancer incidence increased over time significantly inf emales compared with males (APC: +5.56%; p<0.05 and +3.23%; p>0.05), mostly due to an increased incidence of the papillary histotype (APC: +5.48%; p<0.05 and +14.38%; p<0.05), micro carcinomas in females (APC: +17.34%; p<0.05), and carcinomas >40 mm in males (APC: +20.24%;p<0.05). During the same period of time the incidence of follicular thyroid carcinoma significantly decreased (APC: -3.74%; p<0.05).
Conclusion: The findings of our research are consistent with previous studies carried out in many parts of the world. Although the use of ultrasound and fine needle aspiration cannot be totally ruled out, the role of iodine supplementation implemented in the late 1960s in Algeria may have caused the observed trends. The role of other potential risk factors is also discussed.
