One in five future thyroid cancers linked to excess weight

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/937370

 

 News Release 8-Dec-2021
Peer-Reviewed Publication
University of New South Wales

 

Avoiding excess weight, especially obesity, should be a priority for thyroid cancer prevention, the first study to evaluate future thyroid cancer burden in Australia has found.

The world-first study published in the International Journal of Cancer and led by Dr Maarit Laaksonen from UNSW’s School of Mathematics and Statistics, found that one in five future thyroid cancers in Australia is attributable to current levels of overweight and obesity.

Dr Laaksonen, a senior lecturer in Data Science, says this is concerning as the prevalence of obesity in Australia has doubled during the last two decades, with 75 per cent of Australian men and 60 per cent of Australian women being overweight or obese.

“This finding translates to close to 10,000 thyroid cancers in the next 10 years,” Dr Laaksonen says. “Obesity explains 75 per cent of this burden in Australia.” 

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