Abstract
ObjectiveTo explore the prevalence and its associated metabolic factors of thyroid nodules (TNs) among subjects who participated in the physical examinations in Chongqing, China.MethodsThe participants from the Health Management Center of JinShan Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, between September 2015 and May 2020, were included in this study. All of the participants underwent thyroid ultrasonography, anthropometric measurements, and serum examinations. Differences in the TNs prevalence were compared with the chi-square test or Wilcoxon rang-sum test. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to estimate the metabolic factors associated with TNs and multiple thyroid nodules (MTNs).ResultsOf the included 121,702 participants, 41,547 had TNs, and 20,899 had MTNs, with the prevalence of 34.1 and 17.0 %, respectively. Women had a significantly higher prevalence of TNs than men (40.6 % vs. 29.8 %; χ2 = 1517.33, P < 0.001), and TNs prevalence was gradually increased with age (P for trend < 0.001). Female gender, advanced age, and metabolic factors including central obesity, hypertension, diabetes and fatty liver were positively associated with TNs; BMI, hyperlipoidemia and hyperuricemia were not independent risk factors of TNs. While female gender, advanced age, central obesity, hypertension and diabetes were independent risk factors of MTNs.ConclusionsThe prevalence of thyroid nodules was relatively high. The associated factors identified in this study could help the clinicians to detect the high-risk patients and make targeted screening strategies for the preventing of the occurrence of TNs.
Highlights
Thyroid nodules (TNs), one of the most common thyroid disease, has been defined as discrete lesions within the thyroid gland, radiologically distinct from surrounding thyroid parenchyma [1]
Baseline Features of General Population Of the included 121,702 subjects (73,139 were males and 48,563 were females), 41,547 were found to have TNs, with the prevalence of 34.1 % (Table 1). Among those patients with TNs, Single thyroid nodules (STNs) accounted for 49.7 % (N = 20,648) of the patients, while multiple thyroid nodules (MTNs) accounted for 50.3 % (N = 20,899), with the prevalence of 17.0 and 17.2 %, respectively
The prevalence of TNs was found to be increased with age (P for trend < 0.001)
Summary
Thyroid nodules (TNs), one of the most common thyroid disease, has been defined as discrete lesions within the thyroid gland, radiologically distinct from surrounding thyroid parenchyma [1]. It is reported that the prevalence of TNs was about 22.7 % in China, which may inflict a heavy disease burden on the patients [2]. Due to the variations in the distributions of age, race and gender composition, and the relatively smaller sample size in previous studies, the reported TNs prevalence was not consistent, ranging from 10 to 50 %, which makes it difficult for drawing a conclusive conclusion [3,4,5,6,7]. Previous studies showed metabolic factors, including obesity, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hyperuricemia, and fatty liver were associated with the risk of TNs, which provides opportunities for the identification of high-risk patients [9,10,11,12,13,14]. Researches based on large samples were still lacked, and the investigations were seldom conducted in China, which partly limited the application of these findings
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
