A comparison of the burden of thyroid cancer amongst European Union 15+ countries, 1990-2017: Estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study.

Abstract

e18048 Background: The global incidence of thyroid cancer has been increasing rapidly and this has an attendant burden on health-systems. The Global Cancer Observatory reported an estimate of 567,233 new cases of thyroid cancer and 41,071 deaths in 2018. The objective of this study is to observe the trends in mortality, incidence and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from thyroid cancer between 1990-2017 in European Union (EU) 15+ nations. Methods: We extracted thyroid cancer mortality data from the Global Burden of Disease Study database based on the International Classification of Diseases versions 10 and 9. Age-standardised incidence rates (ASIR), age-standardised mortality rates (ASMR) and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) were extracted for individual EU15+ countries per sex for each of the years 1990-2017, inclusive, and mortality-to-incidence indices (MII) were computed. Joinpoint regression analysis was used to describe trends. Results: Between 1990 and 2017, thyroid cancer ASIRs increased in all EU15+ countries for males, and in 15/19 countries for females. We identify ASIR to have plateaued in the majority of nations in the time period covered by the most recent trends. 16/19 countries observed decreasing ASMRs. Australia showed the highest increasing trends in both males (+19.2%) and females (+7.5%). The greatest decreases were seen in Belgium (-63.3%) for females and Austria for males (-34.9%). For both sexes, the MIIs decreased in all EU15+ countries. The smallest reductions were observed in the US (-22.4%) and Denmark (-22.4%) for males, and the US (-30.6%) for females. Variable directions of trends in DALYs were observed. Increasing DALYs for both genders were observed in the US and Australia. In 2017, highest ASIR was seen in Luxembourg for males (5.89/100,000) and Italy for females (8.81/100,000), highest ASMR was seen in Luxembourg for males (0.69/100,000) and females (0.53/100,000), highest MII was observed in Portugal for males (2.60/100,000) and in Finland for females (0.10/100,000) and, highest DALY was observed in Luxembourg for males (17.77/100,000) and Greece for females (16.69/100,000). Conclusions: Overall, we report EU15+ countries to be managing the burden of thyroid cancer, as evidenced by plateauing incidence rates and reductions in mortality and DALYs over the 28-year study period. However, some EU15+ countries, including the United States, demonstrate unfavorable ASMR and DALY trends. Ongoing vigilance is required to ensure changes in clinical practice and risk factor prevalence do not negatively impact on DALYs and mortality.