A report counted the incidence of thyroid cancer in Xuhui District, Shanghai, over a 40-year period from 1973 to 2013. Although it is only an urban district survey, it basically reflects the age characteristics of thyroid cancer incidence.
A total of 2613 patients were counted in the study, including 671 men and 1942 women; the youngest was 12 years old and the oldest was 93 years old, with a mean age of onset of 49 years.
The results showed that:
- Overall, the age of onset of thyroid cancer tends to be 30 to 50 years.
- The incidence rate increased rapidly from 18 to 27 years of age and continued to increase after 28 years of age, but the magnitude began to slow; with a slow decline in men after 43 years of age and a decline in women after 58 years of age.
The age of high incidence of each type of thyroid cancer is shown in Table 1.
| Table 1. Age group and gender distribution of high incidence of each type of thyroid cancer | |
| Average age at presentation | |
| Papillary carcinoma | 45.98 |
| Follicular carcinoma | 47.80 |
| Medullary carcinoma | 51.23 |
| Undifferentiated carcinoma | 59.09 |
Co-written by Dr. Kai Guo, Cancer Hospital of Fudan University