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Thyroid nodule prevalence among women in areas of high natural background radiation, Karunagappally, Kerala, India

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Abstract

Purpose

Radiation exposure has been reported to cause thyroid nodules. The study area was Karunagapally, which has several areas with high natural radiation levels derived from thorium and its decay products. Since thyroid abnormalities are more common in women, the focus was only on women.

Methods

The examinations included interview, ultrasonography of the thyroid and serum assays of free thyroxine (FT4), thyrotropin (TSH), and anti-thyroglobulin levels. Cumulative dose during the childhood and lifetime cumulative dose (lagged by 5 years) were estimated.

Results

We examined 524 female residents aged 17–73 years and found 75 cases of solitary solid thyroid nodules. The prevalence of thyroid nodules were 14.1 % (n = 42) in high dose panchayats and 14.5% (n = 33) in low-dose panchayats. In the logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, the prevalence of solitary thyroid nodule was not linearly related to childhood cumulative dose (P for trend = 0.159) and lifetime cumulative dose (P for trend = 0.333). The prevalence of thyroiditis and hypothyroidism was not related to natural radiation exposure. Serum levels of FT4 or TSH were not related to natural radiation exposure.

Conclusions

The results obtained from the present study do not support the increase of solitary thyroid nodule, thyroiditis or hypothyroidism in relation to high-natural-background-radiation exposure.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Health Research Foundation, Japan through the Low-dose Radiation Research Center of Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry. CRIEPI had no role in study design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation. We acknowledge the support of Head of Nuclear medicine and Head of Cytopathology department, clinicians and technicians of Regional Cancer Centre Thiruvananthapuram. Dr Padmanabhan Nair, Doctors Diagnostic Research Centre, we greatly acknowledge him for conducting the thyroid assay of our study subjects. The study was successfully completed with the wholehearted support of field enumerators of Natural Background Radiation Registry, technicians and nursing staff members of Cancer Care Centre. We also acknowledge the support of all study subjects.

Funding

This study was supported by the Health Research Foundation, Japan through the Low-dose Radiation Research Center of Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Ananthakrishnakurup Sreekumar, Padmavathy Amma Jayalekshmi

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Cancer Center Thiruvananthapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    Ananthakrishnakurup Sreekumar, Padmavathy Amma Jayalekshmi & Paul Sebastian

  2. Natural Background Radiation Cancer Registry, Karunagapally, Kerala, India

    Padmavathy Amma Jayalekshmi & Riyaz Ahammed

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Korimoto, Kagoshima, 890-8580, Japan

    Athira Nandakumar, Chihaya Koriyama & Suminori Akiba

  4. Health Research Foundation, Research Institute for Production Development, Bldg.4F, 15 Shimogamo-morimoto-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-0805, Japan

    Raghu Ram K. Nair, Suminori Akiba, Seiichi Nakamura & Junji Konishi

Authors
  1. Ananthakrishnakurup Sreekumar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ananthakrishnakurup Sreekumar.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by Institutional Scientific Review Board and Ethics Committee of Regional Cancer Centre. All methods were carried out in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations of those boards and in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Informed consent

Informed consent was signed by all women prior to thyroid investigations.

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Sreekumar, A., Jayalekshmi, P.A., Nandakumar, A. et al. Thyroid nodule prevalence among women in areas of high natural background radiation, Karunagappally, Kerala, India. Endocrine 67, 124–130 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-019-02071-z

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