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Thyroid cancer incidence and socioeconomic indicators of health care access

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Abstract

Objective

It has been hypothesized that changes in diagnostic practices have driven the dramatic rise in thyroid cancer incidence over the past two decades. This study investigated the relation between the incidence of thyroid cancer and socioeconomic indicators of health care access.

Methods

We examined thyroid cancer incidence trends in Wisconsin, USA, between 1980 and 2004, according to patient and tumor characteristics. Ecologic analyses were conducted by county to examine the relation between thyroid cancer incidence and education, income, and health insurance coverage.

Results

The incidence of thyroid cancer nearly doubled in Wisconsin between 1980 and 2004, with almost all of the increase occurring between 1990 and 2004, during which an annual change of 4.0% (95% CI: 3.3–4.6) was observed. The bulk of the increase consisted of small, localized cancers of papillary histology. Ecologic analyses indicated moderate correlations by county between thyroid cancer incidence and median household income (r = 0.25), percent of residents with a college degree (r = 0.24), and percent of residents with health insurance (r = 0.41).

Conclusions

The association between thyroid cancer incidence and socioeconomic indicators of health care access is consistent with the hypothesis that the rising incidence trend is attributable to utilization of new diagnostic practices.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Laura Stephenson and the staff of the Wisconsin Cancer Reporting System for assistance with cancer data, John Hampton for technical assistance with population projections and data management, and Christine Vatovec for technical assistance with ArcView mapping. This study was funded in part by a gift from the Fraternal Order of Eagles Arie #1502 to the University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 610 Walnut St., WARF Room 701, Madison, WI, 53726, USA

    Brian L. Sprague, Shaneda Warren Andersen & Amy Trentham-Dietz

  2. University of Wisconsin Paul P. Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center, Madison, WI, USA

    Brian L. Sprague, Shaneda Warren Andersen & Amy Trentham-Dietz

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  1. Brian L. Sprague
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Correspondence to Amy Trentham-Dietz.

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Sprague, B.L., Warren Andersen, S. & Trentham-Dietz, A. Thyroid cancer incidence and socioeconomic indicators of health care access. Cancer Causes Control 19, 585–593 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-008-9122-0

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