Thyroid Nodules in Centenarians: Prevalence and Relationship to Lifestyle Characteristics and Dietary Habits

Abstract

Thyroid nodules (TNs) are common thyroid lesions in older population. Few studies focused on the prevalence of TNs and its relationship to lifestyle characteristics and dietary habits in centenarians. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of TNs in Chinese centenarians using high-resolution ultrasound equipment and investigate its relationship to lifestyles and dietary habits. The current study was part of China Hainan Centenarian Cohort Study (CHCCS) which conducted in Hainan, an iodine sufficient region in China. A total of 874 permanent residents aged 100 years or older (mean age, 102.8 ± 2.8 years) without any missing data were included in the analysis. Among the participants, 649 of them were detected at least one thyroid nodule under the ultrasound examinations. The overall prevalence rate of TNs was 74.3%. The prevalence of TNs was higher in participants who were females, hypertension, diabetes, and underweight than their counterparts. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that being female, hypertension, diabetes, betel quid consumption, red meat consumption were independent risk factors, while being underweight, and nut consumption were independent protective factors for TNs. Our findings indicate that the presence of thyroid nodules was highly prevalent in Chinese centenarians, particularly in females. In addition to gender, hypertension, diabetes, and underweight, the presence of TNs was independently associated with betel quid, red meat, and nut consumptions. Further prospective studies are warranted to verify these associations in population from different age strata, races, cultures, and iodine backgrounds. 2 / 12 IntroductionThyroid nodules (TNs) are common thyroid lesions in older population. High-resolution ultrasonography has made possible the detection of asymptomatic and non-palpable thyroid nodules [1]. The prevalence of TNs detected by high-resolution ultrasonography was 19-68% based on randomly selected individuals, with annual increasing trends worldwide [2,3]. The clinical importance of TNs detection rests with the need to exclude thyroid cancer, which occurs in 5-15% of TN cases [1,4]. A recent study reported that the occurrence of TNs increased as people age, with a prevalence of 74% in a community-based sample of Chinese senior adults [5]. However, the prevalence of this lesion in centenarians remained understudied. Considering the issues mentioned above, there is a need to specifically determine the prevalence of TNs in late life, particularly in centenarians.The high prevalence rate of TNs was partly due to widespread application of high-resolution ultrasound and early diagnosis. In addition, recent studies also proposed that several risk factors could attribute to TNs. Among those risk factors, some factors were non-modifiable such as age, sex, and history of irradiation exposure, while others were modifiable including iodine intake, smoking, alcohol drinking, obesity and metabolic syndrome [5][6][7][8]. However, some other modifiable factors, inc...

Meta-analysis of the Incidence of Thyroid Nodules in China and a Survey on the Incidence of Thyroid Nodules in Fuyu County, Heilongjiang Province

“…Hainan Province, Shanghai City, and Jiangxi Province have the highest incidence rates of thyroid nodules, with Hainan Province having the highest rate (74.0%). It is noteworthy that the inclusion of two studies from Hainan Province involves different years and focuses on the prevalence of thyroid nodules in centenarians, potentially introducing publication bias [10,11] . Guizhou Province has the lowest incidence rate of thyroid nodules.…”