Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Apr 15;177(8):800-9.
doi: 10.1093/aje/kws315. Epub 2013 Mar 25.

A prospective study of medical diagnostic radiography and risk of thyroid cancer

Gila Neta  1 , Preetha Rajaraman, Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, Michele M Doody, Bruce H Alexander, Dale Preston, Steven L Simon, Dunstana Melo, Jeremy Miller, D Michal Freedman, Martha S Linet, Alice J Sigurdson
Affiliations

A prospective study of medical diagnostic radiography and risk of thyroid cancer

Gila Neta et al. Am J Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Although diagnostic x-ray procedures provide important medical benefits, cancer risks associated with their exposure are also possible, but not well characterized. The US Radiologic Technologists Study (1983-2006) is a nationwide, prospective cohort study with extensive questionnaire data on history of personal diagnostic imaging procedures collected prior to cancer diagnosis. We used Cox proportional hazard regressions to estimate thyroid cancer risks related to the number and type of selected procedures. We assessed potential modifying effects of age and calendar year of the first x-ray procedure in each category of procedures. Incident thyroid cancers (n = 251) were diagnosed among 75,494 technologists (1.3 million person-years; mean follow-up = 17 years). Overall, there was no clear evidence of thyroid cancer risk associated with diagnostic x-rays except for dental x-rays. We observed a 13% increase in thyroid cancer risk for every 10 reported dental radiographs (hazard ratio = 1.13, 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 1.26), which was driven by dental x-rays first received before 1970, but we found no evidence that the relationship between dental x-rays and thyroid cancer was associated with childhood or adolescent exposures as would have been anticipated. The lack of association of thyroid cancer with x-ray procedures that expose the thyroid to higher radiation doses than do dental x-rays underscores the need to conduct a detailed radiation exposure assessment to enable quantitative evaluation of risk.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Siegel R, Naishadham D, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2012. CA Cancer J Clin. 2012;62(1):10–29. - PubMed
    1. Schottenfeld D, Fraumeni JF., Jr . Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2006.
    1. Sinnott B, Ron E, Schneider AB. Exposing the thyroid to radiation: a review of its current extent, risks, and implications. Endocr Rev. 2010;31(5):756–773. - PMC - PubMed
    1. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Scientific Committee 6–2 on Radiation Exposure of the U.S. Population. Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States: Recommendations of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Bethesda, MD: National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements; 2009.
    1. National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States: Recommendations of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. Bethesda, MD: National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements; 1987.

Publication types

MeSH terms