Thyroid cancer among people with lower socioeconomic status is diagnosed at a more advanced stage, according to new data presented this week at the American Thyroid Association (ATA) annual meeting in Québec City.
Though previous studies have suggested a higher rate of thyroid cancer in patients with a higher rate of health insurance and higher socioeconomic status, whether the stage of thyroid cancer at the time of diagnosis varies with socioeconomic status has heretofore been unknown.
A team of researchers led by Stan Van Umm, MD, PhD, of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario thus undertook a study to determine the relationship between socioeconomic status and thyroid cancer stage at the time of diagnosis.
Using data from the Canadian Thyroid Cancer Consortium, a large thyroid cancer registry, the researchers analyzed 1,563 patients who presented between January 1998 and December 2010 with documented thyroid cancer. They determined patients' thyroid cancer status, sex, and age at presentation, as well as their socioeconomic status based on Canadian Census of Population data for the years 1996, 2001, and 2006.
During their analysis, the researchers found that a lower average household income is associated with a more advanced stage of thyroid cancer at diagnosis. They also noted that advanced age also is associated with more advanced stage at diagnosis.
Finally, using a time-trend analysis, they found that the odds of being diagnosed at a more advanced stage decline by approximately 4% per year, suggesting that thyroid cancer is being diagnosed earlier over time.
