Primary malignancies of the thyroid: Epidemiologic analysis of the FloridaCancer Data System registry

PURPOSE: Descriptive epidemiology of thyroid cancer in Florida. METHODS: The Florida Cancer Data System (FCDS) registry was used to identif y patients with the different histologic subtypes of thyroid cancer occurri ng in Florida from 1981 through 1993. RESULTS: The FCDS recorded 5746 primary malignancies of the thyroid. The av erage annual incidence of all types of thyroid cancer was 37.0 cases/1,000, 000 population. One type of thyroid cancer (papillary carcinoma) accounted for the overall increase during the 13 years of this study. Then was no dif ference in incidence based on Hispanic ethnicity, but the incidence in Blac ks was half that of Whites, and Blacks showed less advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in incidence of only one histologic type of thyro id cancer suggests that the increasing rate is not an artifact related to t he utilization of new diagnostic technologies. The lower incidence and tend ency to have less advanced thyroid cancer in Blacks would indicate that rac ial differences in thyroid cancer are not likely explained by socioeconomic factors such as access to medical care. A substantial amount of the differ ence in incidence between Whites and Blacks is explained by differences in age distribution. Ann Epidemiol 2000;10:24-30. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science In c. All rights reserved.