Trends in Thyroid Cancer Incidence and Mortality in the United States, 1974-2013

Abstract

In the United States, thyroid cancer incidence rates have increased by 211% between 1975 and 2013, with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), the most common and least-aggressive histologic type, accounting for most of the new cases.¹ Some investigators have suggested that overdiagnosis, or the increased ability to detect and diagnose small indolent tumors that would never otherwise cause symptoms or require treatment, explains a substantial proportion of the increase.^2-5