Thyroid cancer cases among Shanghai women up

THYROID cancer cases among local women have gone up, according to a report published by Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report showed that 16.8 percent of women diagnosed with cancer in 2014 suffered from thyroid cancer — the highest — followed by breast, lung, large intestine and stomach cancers.

Wang Yu, a doctor at the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, said that the incidence of thyroid cancer had increased nearly three times in China in the past 30 years.

The report also found that cases of thyroid cancer among women were three times more than men.

“There is no real conclusion on the reasons for the sudden increase in thyroid cancer cases but both environment and social factors could have influenced it,” said Wang. “Many people smoke and drink alcohol and live an irregular life with high pressure, suffering from obesity and lacking any kind of sporting activities and a healthy diet.

“All this may increase the risks of thyroid cancer,” Wang said.

Wang said that high estrogen and progesterone level might explain the high rates of thyroid cancer cases among women.

He also said that doctors are not sure yet about whether or how thyroid cancer spreads to other parts of the body.

Wang also disproved the argument that the high incidence of cancer was due to advanced medical tests and technologies. “Some researches have shown that patients suffering from thyroid cancer at early phase and those at later phase are increasing, so are the deaths caused by the disease,” he said.

“It means we should not attribute the increase to technology.”

Wang also said that scientists have confirmed that ionizing radiation and genetic factors could cause thyroid cancer.

So staying away from ionizing radiation and radioactive substances is a definite way to prevent the disease.

He also suggested that people keep healthy life habits, such as regular schedule with healthy diet, giving up smoking and drinking, remaining optimistic, doing exercises and taking physical examination regularly.

In 2014, Shanghai had 68,000 people diagnosed with cancer. Among every 100,000 residents, there were 477.8 suffering from cancers — almost two thirds of the level in developed European and American countries.

Lung cancer accounted for 18.1 percent of the newly diagnosed cases among both men and women, followed by large intestine cancer, which was 12.5 percent.

The highest incidence of cancer among men was lung caner, accounting for 22.3 percent, followed by large intestine, stomach, liver and prostate cancers, the report said.

From 2005 to 2014, the cancer incidence increased by 14.4 percent, but the death rate among cancer patients dropped by 4.6 percent.