Prevalence of Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in Autopsy Studies Over Six Decades: A Meta-Analysis.
OBJECTIVE
Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) incidence has been reported to have increased three- to 15-fold in the past few decades. It is unclear whether this represents overdiagnosis or a true increase in incidence. Therefore, the current study aimed to estimate the prevalence of incidental DTC in published autopsy series and determine whether this prevalence has been increasing over time.


METHODS
PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched from inception to December 2015 for relevant studies. Two authors searched for all autopsy studies that had included patients with no known history of thyroid pathology and reported the prevalence of incidental DTC (iDTC). Two authors independently extracted the data, and discrepancies were resolved by another author. The pooled prevalence of iDTC was assessed using a fixed-effects meta-analysis model with robust error variance. The time effect was studied using an inverse-variance weighted logit-linear regression model with robust error variance and a time variable.


RESULTS
Thirty-five studies, conducted between 1949 and 2007, met the inclusion criteria and contributed 42 data sets and 12,834 autopsies. The prevalence of iDTC among the partial and whole examination subgroups was 4.1% (95% CI, 3.0% to 5.4%) and 11.2% (95% CI, 6.7% to 16.1%), respectively. Once the intensiveness of thyroid examination was accounted for in the regression model, the prevalence odds ratio stabilized from 1970 onward, and no time effect was observed.


CONCLUSIONS
The current study confirms that iDTC is common, but the observed increasing incidence is not mirrored by prevalence within autopsy studies and, therefore, is unlikely to reflect a true population-level increase in tumorigenesis. This strongly suggests that the current increasing incidence of iDTC most likely reflects diagnostic detection increasing over time.
Luis Furuya-Kanamori and Suhail A.R. Doi, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University; Suhail A.R. Doi, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Katy J.L. Bell, Justin Clark, and Paul Glasziou, Centre for Research in Evidence Based Practice, Bond University, Gold Coast; Suhail A.R. Doi, School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland; Katy J.L. Bell, School of Public Health, University of Sydney; Suhail A.R. Doi, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and Suhail A.R. Doi, College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Luis
L
Furuya-Kanamori
Luis Furuya-Kanamori and Suhail A.R. Doi, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University; Suhail A.R. Doi, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Katy J.L. Bell, Justin Clark, and Paul Glasziou, Centre for Research in Evidence Based Practice, Bond University, Gold Coast; Suhail A.R. Doi, School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland; Katy J.L. Bell, School of Public Health, University of Sydney; Suhail A.R. Doi, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and Suhail A.R. Doi, College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Katy J L
KJL
Bell
Luis Furuya-Kanamori and Suhail A.R. Doi, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University; Suhail A.R. Doi, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Katy J.L. Bell, Justin Clark, and Paul Glasziou, Centre for Research in Evidence Based Practice, Bond University, Gold Coast; Suhail A.R. Doi, School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland; Katy J.L. Bell, School of Public Health, University of Sydney; Suhail A.R. Doi, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and Suhail A.R. Doi, College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Justin
J
Clark
Luis Furuya-Kanamori and Suhail A.R. Doi, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University; Suhail A.R. Doi, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Katy J.L. Bell, Justin Clark, and Paul Glasziou, Centre for Research in Evidence Based Practice, Bond University, Gold Coast; Suhail A.R. Doi, School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland; Katy J.L. Bell, School of Public Health, University of Sydney; Suhail A.R. Doi, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and Suhail A.R. Doi, College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Paul
P
Glasziou
Luis Furuya-Kanamori and Suhail A.R. Doi, Research School of Population Health, Australian National University; Suhail A.R. Doi, Canberra Hospital, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory; Katy J.L. Bell, Justin Clark, and Paul Glasziou, Centre for Research in Evidence Based Practice, Bond University, Gold Coast; Suhail A.R. Doi, School of Agricultural, Computational and Environmental Sciences, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland; Katy J.L. Bell, School of Public Health, University of Sydney; Suhail A.R. Doi, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; and Suhail A.R. Doi, College of Medicine, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar.
Suhail A R
SAR
Doi