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
. 2024 Apr 22:15:1382124.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1382124. eCollection 2024.

Overweight as a biomarker for concomitant thyroid cancer in patients with Graves' disease

Joonseon Park  1 , Solji An  1 , Ja Seong Bae  1 , Jeong Soo Kim  1 , Kwangsoon Kim  1
Affiliations

Overweight as a biomarker for concomitant thyroid cancer in patients with Graves' disease

Joonseon Park et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

The incidence of concomitant thyroid cancer in Graves' disease varies and Graves' disease can make the diagnosis and management of thyroid nodules more challenging. Since the majority of Graves' disease patients primarily received non-surgical treatment, identifying biomarkers for concomitant thyroid cancer in patients with Graves' disease may facilitate planning the surgery. The aim of this study is to identify the biomarkers for concurrent thyroid cancer in Graves' disease patients and evaluate the impact of being overweight on cancer risk. This retrospective cohort study analyzed 122 patients with Graves' disease who underwent thyroid surgery at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital (Seoul, Korea) from May 2010 to December 2022. Body mass index (BMI), preoperative thyroid function test, and thyroid stimulating hormone receptor antibody (TR-Ab) were measured. Overweight was defined as a BMI of 25 kg/m² or higher according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Most patients (88.5%) underwent total or near-total thyroidectomy. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients who were overweight had a higher risk of malignancy (Odds ratios, 3.108; 95% confidence intervals, 1.196-8.831; p = 0.021). Lower gland weight and lower preoperative TR-Ab were also biomarkers for malignancy in Graves' disease. Overweight patients with Graves' disease had a higher risk of thyroid cancer than non-overweight patients. A comprehensive assessment of overweight patients with Graves' disease is imperative for identifying concomitant thyroid cancer.

Keywords: BMI - body mass index; Graves’ disease; overweight; thyroid cancer; thyroid stimulating hormone receptor antibodies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Participant flow diagram of patient selection. GD, Graves’ disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. RossDouglas S, BurchHenry B, CooperDavid S, Carol G, Luiza M, RivkeesScott A, et al. . 2016 American Thyroid Association guidelines for diagnosis and management of hyperthyroidism and other causes of thyrotoxicosis. Thyroid. (2016). doi: 10.1089/thy.2016.0229 - DOI
    1. Smith TJ, Hegedüs L. Graves’ disease. New Engl J Med. (2016) 375:1552–65. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1510030 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pearce EN, Farwell AP, Braverman LE. Thyroiditis. New Engl J Med. (2003) 348:2646–55. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra021194 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Davies TF, Andersen S, Latif R, Nagayama Y, Barbesino G, Brito M, et al. . Graves’ disease. Nat Rev Dis primers. (2020) 6:52. doi: 10.1038/s41572-020-0184-y - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bahn RS. Graves' ophthalmopathy. New Engl J Med. (2010) 362:726–38. doi: 10.1056/NEJMra0905750 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types