title: Patterns of Benign and Malignant Lesions of the Thyroid in Two Wilayahs of Northeastern Algeria.
abstract: The aim of this study is to compare histological patterns and to estimate the burden of thyroid cancers in the two Wilayahs (departments) of El-Taref and Guelma in northeast of Algeria (total population 0.9 million), locally reputed as having different rates of endemic thyroid diseases and cancer. A retrospective analysis of central pathology registers and clinical records of patients with thyroid diseases, covering the period 2008-2012, was conducted. A total of 145 cases of thyroid cancers with histological confirmation were registered in the two Wilayahs during the period, with a female to male ratio of 5.9 : 1. Estimates of crude incidence rates suggested that thyroid cancers were twice as frequent in the Wilayah of Guelma compared to El-Taref (p < 0.05) with a tendency to occur at a younger age in resident of the Wilayah of El-Taref. Diagnoses of thyroid adenoma were more frequent in the Wilayah of Guelma, whereas the prevalence of other thyroid lesions, including goitre, was similar in the two Wilayahs. This first descriptive study on geographic variations in thyroid cancer in Northern Africa suggests that significant differences may occur in relation with environmental and lifestyle exposures.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory "Ecology Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems" (EcoSTAq), Team "Emerging Diseases and Environment", University Badji Mokhtar, Annaba, Algeria.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guidoum
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory Pathological Anatomy, EPH, El-Taref, Algeria.
authors.forename: Hind
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kherfi-Kadi
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory Pathological Anatomy, EPH, Ibn Zohr, Guelma, Algeria.
authors.forename: Ouahiba
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Benharkat-Boughaba
authors.affiliation: Head Radiotherapy Oncology, Hospital Ibn Badis, University 3, Constantine, Algeria.
authors.forename: Aicha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Djemaa-Bendjazia
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Medicine Department, Hospital Ibn Badis, University 3, Constantine, Algeria.
authors.forename: Sihem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keghouche
authors.affiliation: International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Behnoush
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abedi-Ardekani
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory "Ecology Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems" (EcoSTAq), Team "Emerging Diseases and Environment", University Badji Mokhtar, Annaba, Algeria.
authors.forename: Amina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Azzouz
authors.affiliation: Central Laboratory Pathological Anatomy, EPH, El-Taref, Algeria.
authors.forename: Yacine
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kadi
authors.affiliation: Institut Albert Bonniot Inserm UJF 823, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hainaut
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratory "Ecology Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems" (EcoSTAq), Team "Emerging Diseases and Environment", University Badji Mokhtar, Annaba, Algeria.
authors.forename: Zihad
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bouslama