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Thyroid cancer risk and smoking status: a meta-analysis

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Abstract

Purpose

Previous researchers have reported an inverse association between cigarette smoking and thyroid cancer risk. To summarize the role of smoking in relation to thyroid cancer occurrence, we conducted a meta-analysis.

Methods

We performed a meta-analysis of 31 eligible studies to summarize the data describing the association between thyroid cancer occurrence and smoking. The case–control studies consisted of 6,260 thyroid cancer cases and 32,935 controls. Cohort studies contained 2,715 thyroid cancer patients that participated from recruitment to follow-up. Q-statistic and I 2 statistic were calculated to examine heterogeneity. Summary relative risks (RRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) were calculated using a random effects model. Potential sources of heterogeneity were investigated via subgroup and sensitivity analyses, and publication biases were estimated.

Results

Thyroid cancer risk was reduced in persons who had ever-smoked (RR = 0.79; 95 % CI 0.70–0.88) compared with never-smokers. However, strong evidence of heterogeneity was found among the investigated studies; therefore, subgroup analyses were conducted according to study type, smoking status, study location, source of controls, sex, and histological type of thyroid cancer. When the data were stratified by smoking status, an inverse association was observed only among current smokers (RR = 0.74; 95 % CI 0.64–0.86), not former smokers (RR = 1.01; 95 % CI 0.92–1.10). An inverse association was observed only in case–control studies (RR = 0.75; 95 % CI 0.66–0.85).

Conclusions

This meta-analysis of geographically diverse epidemiological data suggests that smoking, particularly current smoking, may influence susceptibility to thyroid cancer. Further well-designed studies with larger sample sizes should be conducted.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Grant from National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2012R1A1A2044332).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Research Institute, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 410-769, Korea

    Young Ae Cho & Jeongseon Kim

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Correspondence to Jeongseon Kim.

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Cho, Y.A., Kim, J. Thyroid cancer risk and smoking status: a meta-analysis. Cancer Causes Control 25, 1187–1195 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-014-0422-2

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