Childhood and Adolescent Factors and Thyroid Cancer Incidence in Adult Women in the Sister Study Cohort

TL;DR

This study found that childhood and adolescent factors like height, weight, nutrition, and socioeconomic status may influence the risk of thyroid cancer in adult women.

Contribution

The study identifies novel associations between early-life factors and differentiated thyroid cancer incidence in women.

Findings

Being taller than peers at age 10 was linked to a 41% higher thyroid cancer risk.

Childhood food insecurity was associated with a 67% higher risk of thyroid cancer.

Higher household educational level in childhood was linked to a 25% lower thyroid cancer risk.

Abstract

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is more common in women than in men but the etiology is not well understood. We therefore investigated the association between childhood and adolescent factors and subsequent DTC incidence in women.

We used data from 47,913 women enrolled (2003–2009) in the U.S. nationwide Sister Study cohort who were cancer-free at baseline. We used Cox regression models to assess associations of DTC incidence with self-reported baseline characteristics, including perceived body size, hormonal, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors through age 20, adjusting for attained age (timescale), and race/ethnicity.

Over follow-up (median: 13.1 years), 239 DTC cases were identified. Factors associated with higher DTC incidence included being taller than peers at age 10 (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.06–1.89), being lighter (HR = 1.37, 95%CI = 0.97–1.91) or heavier (HR = 1.28, 95%CI = 0.96–1.71) than peers during teen years, and ever not having enough to eat during childhood (HR = 1.67, 95%CI = 1.15–2.43). DTC incidence was lower among those with childhood higher household educational level (HRBachelor’s degree or higher vs high school, GED or less = 0.75, 95%CI = 0.55–1.03). We did not find notable associations for other factors.

Our findings suggest that childhood growth, nutrition, and socioeconomic factors may influence DTC incidence in women.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10552-025-02085-1.

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