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. 2019 Apr 22;16(8):1428.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16081428.

Physical Activity and Thyroid Cancer Risk: A Case-Control Study in Catania (South Italy)

Maria Fiore  1 , Antonio Cristaldi  2 , Valeriya Okatyeva  3 , Salvatore Lo Bianco  4 , Gea Oliveri Conti  5 , Pietro Zuccarello  6 , Chiara Copat  7 , Rosario Caltabiano  8 , Matteo Cannizzaro  9 , Margherita Ferrante  1
Affiliations

Physical Activity and Thyroid Cancer Risk: A Case-Control Study in Catania (South Italy)

Maria Fiore et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: The health benefits of physical activity are well established, but the association between physical activity and thyroid cancer remains poorly understood. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between physical activity and thyroid cancer in order to determine type, frequency, and duration of exercise needed to maximize prevention.

Method: Cases, diagnosed from January 2009 to July 2018, and controls were enrolled at the University Hospital "Policlinico-Vittorio Emanuele" of Catania (South Italy). Logistic regression models were used to estimate the crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals.

Results: A total of 106 cases (91.2% papillary type) and 217 controls were enrolled. Physical activity was rare in Catania (32.8%) and was not correlated to risk of total thyroid cancer (OR: 0.997; 95% CI: 0.515-1.929). Conversely, walking every day for at least 60 minutes reduced the risk of thyroid cancer (OR: 0.357; 95% CI: 0.157-0.673).

Conclusions: Our study showed that daily walking duration was associated with lower risk of thyroid cancer using a case-control study. Unfortunately, the frequency of physical activity often declines with age, particularly among the elderly, thus more research on physical activity adherence is needed to determine which approaches are most effective in promoting sustained physical activity participation.

Keywords: daily walking duration; physical activity; prevention; thyroid cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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