Association between Breast and Thyroid Cancer among Women in Arkansas

Peckham Merry M,Stack Brendan C,King Deanne,Gokun Yevgeniya,Rose Tyler K,Syed Shorabuddin,Mitchell William M

doi:10.36959/608/445

Abstract

Abstract Background Growing evidence suggests a bi-directional relationship between breast and thyroid cancer in women worldwide. This study investigates whether a relationship exists among women in Arkansas. Methods Retrospective chart review of patients at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences was conducted on patients with breast cancer and thyroid disease in The Arkansas Breast Cancer database and EPIC EMR. Results Of 12,375 patients with thyroid pathology, 276 had breast cancer, and 40 had thyroid cancer. The relative risks for survivors of one of developing the other were calculated. RR of a breast cancer survivor developing thyroid cancer was 0.826 (p = 0.3432). For the reverse condition, RR was 0.50 (p = 0.0052), which was statistically significant. Conclusions Our research suggests that women in Arkansas diagnosed with breast cancer do not have a significant risk of developing thyroid cancer, but that women diagnosed with thyroid cancer are at a reduced risk of developing breast cancer subsequently. Further research is underway to see if these results vary by region in the United States.

Highlights

Breast cancer has the highest rate of new cancer diagnoses and is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the state of Arkansas [1]
There were 5,645 women who had a diagnosis of breast cancer and 1,414 women who had a diagnosis of thyroid cancer during the same time period
Out of 5,645 women with a diagnosis of breast cancer, 25 (0.44%) women had thyroid cancer diagnosed after breast cancer

Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer has the highest rate of new cancer diagnoses and is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the state of Arkansas [1]. Both breast and thyroid cancer rank in the top 10 cancers with the highest rates of incidence in Arkansas and nationwide over the period of 20122016 (Figure 1). Recent studies suggest that a link between breast and thyroid cancer exists [2,3,4,5]. This study investigates whether a relationship exists among women in Arkansas

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion