Seasonal variation in the presentation of thyroid cancer in the USA: an analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Registry

摘要

Seasonal variation in diagnosis has been reported in a variety of cancers including acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoma, melanoma, breast cancer and childhood cancers [1-6]. Two studies have investigated the seasonal trends in the presentation of thyroid cancer in the Scandinavian countries, but not in the USA [7, 8]. Understanding the seasonal pattern of diagnosis of thyroid cancer may allow healthcare resource allocation as well as offer insights into disease pathogenesis. We utilized the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database to identify all cases of thyroid cancer diagnosed between 1973 and 2011. SEER is a program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that provides cancer incidence and survival data from population-based cancer registries covering about 28 % of the US population.