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Demographic, lifestyle, reproductive, and hormonal factors, medical history, and medication use in relation to thyroid cancer risk in the PLCO study

Principal Investigator
Name
Melissa Braganza
Degrees
MPH
Institution
NCI, DCEG, REB
Position Title
CRTA Fellow
Email
About this CDAS Project
Study
PLCO (Learn more about this study)
Project ID
PLCO-5
Initial CDAS Request Approval
Nov 20, 2012
Title
Demographic, lifestyle, reproductive, and hormonal factors, medical history, and medication use in relation to thyroid cancer risk in the PLCO study
Summary
Although a relatively uncommon cancer, thyroid cancer incidence has been increasing in several countries, including the United States. [1, 2] Apart from a few established risk factors (being female, ionizing radiation, benign thyroid disease), little is known about the etiology of thyroid cancer. [3] We will to comprehensively explore baseline information on demographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, lifestyle factors, reproductive and hormonal factors, medical history, and medication use in relation to thyroid cancer risk. We will also examine these associations separately for men and women. The main outcome will be first primary malignant thyroid cancer diagnosed during follow-up. We will calculate hazards ratios using models adjusted for sex, race/ethnicity, education, marital status, smoking status, and BMI, with attained age as the underlying time variable. All analyses will be performed using Stata 11.2 (Stata Corporation, College Station, Texas).
This study is suitable for the PLCO cohort because detailed information on demographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, family history of cancer, reproductive factors, smoking history, and personal medical history was collected from study participants at baseline. In particular, PLCO collected data on several medical conditions and reproductive surgical procedures. Since much of the etiology of thyroid cancer is unknown, this research may help to provide etiological clues and aid in identifying highly susceptible populations for cancer screenings.

1. Davies, L. and H.G. Welch, Increasing incidence of thyroid cancer in the United States, 1973-2002. JAMA, 2006. 295(18): p. 2164-7.
2. Kilfoy, B.A., et al., International patterns and trends in thyroid cancer incidence, 1973-2002. Cancer Causes Control, 2009. 20(5): p. 525-31.
3. Ron, E. and A.B. Schneider, Thyroid Cancer, in Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, D. Schottenfeld and J.F. Fraumeni, Jr., Editors. 2006, Oxford University Press: Oxford. p. 975-994.
Aims

Using baseline questionnaire data, we plan to investigate the associations between anthropometric measures (height, weight), occupation, smoking history, family history of cancer, aspirin or ibuprofen use, prior diagnosis of medical conditions (hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, colorectal polyp, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s Disease, familial polyposis, arthritis, osteoporosis, Gardner’s Syndrome, hepatitis, cirrhosis, diverticulitis/diverticulosis, and gall bladder stones or inflammation), personal medical history of reproductive conditions for men (problem with prostate, inflamed prostate/prostatitis, syphilis, gonorrhea), personal history of cancer, reproductive factors for women (age at menarche, age at menopause, type of menopause, age at first pregnancy, age at first birth, parity, number of pregnancies, results of pregnancies, number of live births, oral contraceptive use), surgical procedures for women (tubal ligation, hysterectomy, removal of ovaries, hormonal therapy use) and men (biopsy, transurethral resection of the prostate, prostatectomy, prostate surgery, vasectomy), diagnostic utilization among women (chest x-ray, mammogram, pap smear, pelvic examination, ultrasound, blood test for ovarian cancer, stool test, colonoscopy) and men (chest x-ray, digital rectal examination of the prostate, blood test for prostate cancer, stool test, colonoscopy) and thyroid cancer risk.

Collaborators

Cari M. Kitahara