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Are pregnancy, parity, menstruation and breastfeeding risk factors for thyroid cancer? Results from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2010‐2015
Author(s) -
Kim Hosu,
Kim Kyong Young,
Baek Jong Ha,
Jung Jaehoon
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
clinical endocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1365-2265
pISSN - 0300-0664
DOI - 10.1111/cen.13750
Subject(s) - medicine , thyroid cancer , breastfeeding , menarche , obstetrics , pregnancy , body mass index , gynecology , national health and nutrition examination survey , thyroid , context (archaeology) , population , pediatrics , endocrinology , environmental health , biology , genetics , paleontology
Summary Context It is unclear whether reproductive factors such as pregnancy, parity, menstruation, and breastfeeding are risk factors for thyroid cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of reproductive factors with thyroid cancer risk. Design/Setting Large‐scale nation‐wide cross‐sectional data were analysed from representative samples from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey V‐ VI (2010‐2015). Results In this study, 38 086 people over the age of 18 years were enrolled, of which 241 had a diagnosis of thyroid cancer. Of 21 543 female subjects, 210 had thyroid cancer. In logistic regression analysis, pregnancy, parity and number of reproductive years (period between menarche and menopause, excluding breastfeeding period) were significantly associated with thyroid cancer after adjusting for age, body mass index and smoking. However, the number of pregnancies did not show a linear relationship with thyroid cancer. Among breastfeeding women, total duration of breastfeeding and number of babies breastfed significantly decreased the risk for thyroid cancer. Conclusion Our findings suggest that reproductive factors can be associated with the development of thyroid cancer. A large prospective cohort study is needed to clarify the causality.