Global incidence and prevalence of differentiated thyroid cancer in childhood: systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

ObjectiveDifferentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is rare in childhood and adolescence although it represents the most frequent endocrine malignancy in this population. DTC includes both papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC). Most pediatric DTCs are PTCs, while FTCs are rare. To date, no systematic reviews on the global epidemiology of pediatric and adolescent DTC have been published. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to estimate the overall incidence and prevalence of DTCs in patients aged 0–19 years.MethodsThe systematic research was conducted from January 2000 to December 2021 through MEDLINE via PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases. Two separate meta-analyses were performed for PTC and FTC.ResultsAfter the selection phase, a total of 15 studies (3,332 screened) met the inclusion criteria and are reported in the present systematic review. Five studies were conducted in Europe, five in North America, two in South America, one in Asia, one reported data for 49 countries and territories across the five continents, and one from both the USA and Africa. Most of the studies (n = 14) reported data obtained from national registries, and only one provided information collected from hospital medical records. Beyond the actual trend over time, our study reported a pooled global incidence rate (IR) of PTC and FTC in the pediatric age of 0.46 (95% CI: 0.33–0.59) and 0.07 (95% CI: 0.02–0.12) per 100,000 person-years, respectively. The highest IRs were recorded among Caucasian girls, and the lowest in black or other races/ethnicities.ConclusionOur data confirm that DTC in the pediatric population is a rare condition. The pooled IRs of the studies included in this meta-analysis are ~0.5 for PTC, which is the most common histological type when both genders and all age groups are considered. The implementation of a prospective international registry on pediatric DTC, as part of the wider European Registries for Rare Endocrine Conditions, has been recently proposed. In addition to providing relevant information on the clinical behavior of this rare disease, standardization of data collection will be pivotal to fill current gaps and allow an accurate estimation of the real incidence and risk factors of DTC.

Cryopreserved Thyroid Tissue Autotransplant in Pediatric Age Patients: A Feasibility Study and Literature Review

“…Generally speaking, both thyroid autotransplantation studies on animals and those on humans have shown good results regarding the viability and functionality of the transplant, although information on the outcome remains poor. As the trend of malignant pathology in pediatric age patients is increasing all over the world, an alternative solution to lifelong hormone replacement therapy in specific categories of patients who underwent thyroidectomy could be that of autotransplanting cryopreserved thyroid tissue in selected patients [71][72][73].…”

Quality of Life in Patients With Well-Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma After Total Thyroidectomy in Greece

“…Well-differentiated cancer of the thyroid gland is one of the most common types of endocrine neoplasias, representing the ninth most frequent malignancy worldwide [1]. During the last decades, its incidence has increased approximately by 300%, affecting a wide spectrum of patients, including adolescents and young adults, while the female-to-male ratio is estimated to be 1:2 [2,3]. Despite its increasing prevalence, the prognosis of thyroid cancer is rather good, with an estimated five-year survival rate ranging between 80% and 90% in European countries [4].…”