Skip to main content
PMC home page
British Journal of Cancer logoLink to British Journal of Cancer
. 1987 Feb;55(2):191–195. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1987.36

Thyroid cancer among young women related to prior thyroid disease and pregnancy history.

S Preston-Martin, L Bernstein, M C Pike, A A Maldonado, B E Henderson
PMCID: PMC2002082  PMID: 3814488

Abstract

We conducted an epidemiologic case-control study of thyroid cancer in women aged 40 and under to test the hypothesis that endogenous hormones may relate to the development of this disease, since the only known cause of thyroid cancer, ionizing radiation, does not account for the striking female over male excess. When compared to neighbour controls women with thyroid cancer more often had a history of benign hyperplastic thyroid disease (Relative Risk (RR) = 14.5; P less than 0.01) and more often had ever been pregnant (RR = 2.1; P = 0.04). Both these findings were consistent with findings of previous studies. After eliminating women with a history of hyperplastic thyroid disease from the analysis we found a strong association with miscarriage as the outcome of the first pregnancy (RR = 11.5; P less than 0.01), and we suspect that this factor may be another indicator of thyroid abnormality. An independent and increasing risk was observed with an increase in the total number of pregnancies after excluding women with prior thyroid disease and those whose first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. The RR for 4 or more pregnancies was 6.3 (P = 0.03). Prior exposure to radiation therapy was not an important factor in our study of young women; this suggests that the emphasis in future studies of thyroid cancer must shift to study other types of risk factors.

Full text

PDF
191

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. AXELRAD A. A., LEBLOND C. P. Induction of thyroid tumors in rats by a low iodine diet. Cancer. 1955 Mar-Apr;8(2):339–367. doi: 10.1002/1097-0142(1955)8:2<339::aid-cncr2820080214>3.0.co;2-m. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Crile G., Jr Endocrine dependency of papillary carcinomas of the thyroid. JAMA. 1966 Feb 28;195(9):721–724. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Favus M. J., Schneider A. B., Stachura M. E., Arnold J. E., Ryo U. Y., Pinsky S. M., Colman M., Arnold M. J., Frohman L. A. Thyroid cancer occurring as a late consequence of head-and-neck irradiation. Evaluation of 1056 patients. N Engl J Med. 1976 May 6;294(19):1019–1025. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197605062941901. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hempelmann L. H., Hall W. J., Phillips M., Cooper R. A., Ames W. R. Neoplasms in persons treated with x-rays in infancy: fourth survey in 20 years. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1975 Sep;55(3):519–530. doi: 10.1093/jnci/55.3.519. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Henderson B. E., Ross R. K., Pike M. C., Casagrande J. T. Endogenous hormones as a major factor in human cancer. Cancer Res. 1982 Aug;42(8):3232–3239. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. MAN E. B., HEINEMANN M., JOHNSON C. E., LEARY D. C., PETERS J. P. The precipitable iodine of serum in normal pregnancy and its relation to abortions. J Clin Invest. 1951 Feb;30(2):137–150. doi: 10.1172/JCI102426. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. MORRIS H. P. Experimental thyroid tumors. Brookhaven Symp Biol. 1955 Feb;7:192-218; discussion, 218-9. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Malkasian G. D., Mayberry W. E. Serum total and free thyroxine and thyrotropin in normal and pregnant women, neonates, and women receiving progestogens. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1970 Dec 15;108(8):1234–1238. doi: 10.1016/0002-9378(70)90098-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. McTiernan A. M., Weiss N. S., Daling J. R. Incidence of thyroid cancer in women in relation to previous exposure to radiation therapy and history of thyroid disease. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1984 Sep;73(3):575–581. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McTiernan A. M., Weiss N. S., Daling J. R. Incidence of thyroid cancer in women in relation to reproductive and hormonal factors. Am J Epidemiol. 1984 Sep;120(3):423–435. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113907. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Prentice R. L., Kato H., Yoshimoto K., Mason M. Radiation exposure and thyroid cancer incidence among Hiroshima and Nagasaki residents. Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1982;62:207–212. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Preston-Martin S., Bernstein L., Maldonado A. A., Henderson B. E., White S. C. A dental x-ray validation study. Comparison of information from patient interviews and dental charts. Am J Epidemiol. 1985 Mar;121(3):430–439. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a114015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Preston-Martin S., Paganini-Hill A., Henderson B. E., Pike M. C., Wood C. Case-control study of intracranial meningiomas in women in Los Angeles County, California. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1980 Jul;65(1):67–73. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rallison M. L., Dobyns B. M., Keating F. R., Rall J. E., Tyler F. H. Thyroid disease in children. A survey of subjects potentially exposed to fallout radiation. Am J Med. 1974 Apr;56(4):457–463. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(74)90476-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. STEVENSON A. C., DUDGEON M. Y., McCLURE H. I. Observations on the results of pregnancies in women resident in Belfast. II. Abortions, hydatidiform moles and ectopic pregnancies. Ann Hum Genet. 1959 Dec;23:395–414. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-1809.1959.tb01482.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Journal of Cancer are provided here courtesy of Cancer Research UK

RESOURCES