Changing trends of incidence and prognosis of thyroid carcinoma in lower Franconia, Germany, from 1981-1995.
BACKGROUND
A population-based registry (PBR) in Lower Frankonia in southern Germany was conducted to evaluate the changes of incidence and prognosis of thyroid carcinoma (TC) in this area.


METHODS
The study comprised 476 patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) from Lower Franconia (1.3 x 10(6) inhabitants) registered between 1981 and 1995 at the Regional Tumor Center. The incidence was assessed with respect to gender, age, histology, tumor stage, lymph node involvement and distant metastases in 5-year intervals (1981-1985, 1986-1990, and 1991-1995).


RESULTS
An increasing rate of papillary thyroid carcinoma PTC and a decreasing rate of follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) were observed over the three time periods (1981-1985, 1986-1990, and 1991-1995). The overall incidence revealed no significant change with time for both females from 3.22 to 3.25 and 3.73 and males (1.07 to 1.54 and 1.69) between the three time periods. There was a significant improvement in outcome of patients with DTC with respect to life expectancy.


CONCLUSIONS
Iodine prophylaxis does influence the distribution of the histologic types of thyroid cancer and leads to an increase in the ratio of papillary versus follicular carcinoma. Our study supports the hypothesis that the benefits of correcting iodine deficency outweigh the risks of iodine supplementation.
Farahati
Jamshid
J
Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Wuerzburg, Germany. farahati@bethesda-essen.de
Geling
Markus
M
Mäder
Uwe
U
Mörtl
Markus
M
Luster
Markus
M
Müller
Justus G
JG
Flentje
Michael
M
Reiners
Christoph
C
D018263:Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000453:epidemiology; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*