Assessment of thyroid cancer risk factors in Kurdistan province

ABSTRACT Background and Aim: Considering the increasing trend of thyroid cancer and increased number of new cases we performed this study to determine the risk factors for thyroid cancer in Kurdistan Province. Materials and Methods: 80 patients and 80 controls were matched and entered into this case-control study from September 2009 to September 2016 in Kurdistan Province. Data were collected by reviewing the records of the patients, making phone calls and face-to-face interviews.  Using SPSS v.20 software, data analysis was performed by chi-square test, T-test and logistic regression. Results: The results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender, marital status, residential place, and profession. Thyroid cancer showed significant relationships with obesity, history of thyroid cancer in family, use of levothyroxine and TSH level. Conclusion: The results of the study highlighted the importance of TSH level, obesity, history of thyroid cancer in family, and use of levothyroxine which can be considered as risk factors for thyroid cancer by education and health planners. Keywords: Risk factors, Thyroid cancer, Kurdistan Province.   Received: Dec 18, 2017     Accepted: May 22, 2018