Trends in pediatric thyroid cancer incidence in the United States, 1998-2013

Background Pediatric differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) rates have increased over time in the United States and worldwide. Improvements in imaging for the diagnosis of DTC have been hypothesized as a potential driver of these increases. This study stratifies temporal trends in pediatric DTC by stage and tumor size to assess whether rates of large, late-stage cancers, which are likely to be clinically meaningful, are increasing over time. Methods Age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) of DTC and annual percent changes (APCs) in primary DTC rates were estimated for 0- to 19-year-olds with data from 39 US cancer registries during 1998-2013. Results During 1998-2013, 7296 cases of DTC were diagnosed (6652 papillary cases and 644 follicular cases). APCs of pediatric DTCs significantly increased by 4.43%/y [95% CI, 3.74%/y-5.13%/y], primarily because of increases in papillary histologies. Increasing trends were observed for children aged 10 to 19 years for both sexes and for non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks, and Hispanics. Rates increased significantly over the time period for all tumor stages (APC(localized), +4.06%/y [95% CI, 2.84%/y-5.29%/y]; APC(regional), +5.68%/y [95% CI, 4.64%/y-6.73%/y]; APC(distant), +8.55%/y [95% CI, 5.03%/y-12.19%/y]) and across tumor sizes (APC(<1 cm), +9.46%/y [95% CI, 6.13%/y-12.90%/y]; APC(1-2 cm), +6.92%/y [95% CI, 4.31%/y-9.60%/y]; APC(>2 cm), +4.69%/y [95% CI, 2.75%/y-6.67%/y]). Conclusions Significantly increasing rates of DTC over time among 10- to 19-year-olds in the United States are unlikely to be entirely explained by increases in medical surveillance during childhood because rates of large and late-stage DTC are increasing over time. Future studies should examine environmental and other factors that may be contributing to rising DTC rates.