Prevalence of thyroid cancer among thyroid swelling in Jimma University Medical Center, South West Ethiopia: A five-year retrospective study

Abstract

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancies. It is postulated that goiter is a precursor lesion to the development of thyroid cancer. The worldwide prevalence of goiter in the general population is estimated at 4 to 7%. The objective of the study was to assess the burden of thyroid cancer among patients who visited Jimma University Medical Center (JUMC) with thyroid swelling over the past 5 years. The record of patients who had undergone Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) over the past five years from September 2012 to July 2017 was taken as the source population and the patients who underwent FNAC for a thyroid swelling were taken as the study population. The information was collected by the principal investigator and a trained data collector using a structured data collecting guide. Data was compiled and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 22 software and presented using tables, graphs and figures. A total of 2008 thyroid cases which underwent FNAC from September 2012 to July 2017 were collected. Of these, 378 (18.9%) were male and 1626 (81.1%) female. It was observed that the highest prevalence of thyroid swelling cases occurred in the age group 20 to 30 years with 577 (29.2%) of the participants. The most common thyroid lesion that was found was goiter accounting for 85.4% (1715/2008) of all thyroid swellings in patients that underwent FNAC during the study period. And the most common malignancy that was found was papillary carcinoma (PTC) accounting for 49.3% of malignant lesions. As known, the highest prevalence of carcinoma was found in 2016/17, with 25 (5.8%) and lowest in 2012/2013 with 8 (3.7%). Based on this study, although thyroid swelling is quite a common problem in and around Jimma, the prevalence of thyroid cancer is quite low. And the leading type of malignancy is papillary thyroid carcinoma. Age was found to have a statistically significant association with thyroid malignancy. And there is an increasing incidence of thyroid malignancy over the past 5 years.