Abstract
This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of thyroid nodules (TN) and investigate its correlation with metabolic parameters, especially uric acid (UA) in northwest Chinese population. We conducted a large cross-sectional survey with 67,781 residents (33,020 men, 34,761 women), aged from 18 to 86 years in Shanxi, China, from January 2012 to December 2014. A thyroid ultrasound examination was performed with number and size of nodules being recorded. Metabolic parameters including body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), fasting glucose (FG), and uric acid (UA) were also examined. Our study revealed that approximately 30.7% of men and 39.9% of women in Northwest China had TN, about half of which were multi-nodularity and a quarter of their TN larger than 1 cm. The prevalence of TN increased with aging and increasing BMI, and metabolic disorders, which also related to the increased incident of multi-nodularity and larger TN. Serum UA appeared to be a protective factor for TN in men older than 30 years, but a risk factor in both men younger than 30 years and women older than 30 years. This phenomenon needs to be further investigated.
Highlights
Thyroid nodule (TN) is a clinical common hyperplastic disease with 2-5% being malignant
We found that 30.7% of men and 39.9% of women had TN, about half of which were multinodularity and a quarter of which were larger than 1 cm using ultrasound examination
The rates of TN increased with age, body mass index (BMI), and metabolic disorders, which was related to the increased prevalence of multi-nodularity and larger TN
Summary
Thyroid nodule (TN) is a clinical common hyperplastic disease with 2-5% being malignant. The prevalence of TN has increased significantly and is reaching epidemic proportions in China. In 2002 an epidemiological survey in Northeast China found that the prevalence of TN was about 8% [1], which reached 25% in 2013 [2]. As shown in an epidemiological survey, the prevalence rate of TN is about 5% in women and 1% in men with palpation, and 19% to 68% with high resolution ultrasound respectively [3]. Recent studies have found that the metabolic disorders have played an important role in TN [6, 7]. A clinical study in a mild-to-moderate iodine-deficient area showed that the percentage of patients with TN was 50.4% in metabolic syndrome group, while the percentage was only 14.6% in control group. The study found insulin resistance was a risk factor for TN
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