Endocrinologia e Síndrome Metabólica
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Does Increased Body Mass Index Lead to Elevated Thyroid Cancer Risk?

Fevzi Balkan, Celil Alper Usluogullari, Rifki Ucler, Husniye Baser, Reyhan Ersoy and Bekir Cakir

Purpose: Obesity is associated with various diseases including thyroid cancer. The relationship between thyroid nodules and obesity is unclear. In this study, patients with a higher-than-population risk of thyroid cancer whose thyroid fine needle aspiration biopsies were suspicious or indeterminate were divided into groups according to their body mass index and their rate of malignancy was examined.

Method: In this study, 214 patients who were operated for indeterminate cytology in 2009-2010 at our clinic were reviewed retrospectively. The patients were divided into 4 groups. Group 1 included 47 patients (BMI 18-24,9 kg/ m2); Group 2 included 67 patients (BMI 25-29,9); Group 3 included 85 patients (BMI 30-39,9); and Group 4 had 15 patients (BMI > 40). Patients were classified as benign and malign based on the postoperative histopathological results. Malignancy rates were recorded for each group and the groups were compared.

Results: Based on the histopathological results of the 214 patients included in the study, 70 patients were reported to have thyroid cancer (32.7%). When the patients were divided into groups as benign and malign according to the pathology results, age, BMI, height, fT3, TSH, body fat ratios and WC/HC ratios were found to be similar between groups (p>0.05). fT4 was found to be significantly elevated in the malign group (p<0.05).

Conclusion: In this study, malignancy rates increased as the patients' body mass index increased but the difference was not statistically significant (p>0.05). Obesity and increased body mass index may be a risk factor for thyroid cancer.