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Table 1 Characteristics of Thyroid Cancer Patients Before Thyroidectomy

From: Thyroid cancer overdiagnosis and overtreatment: a cross- sectional study at a thyroid cancer referral center in Ecuador

Variablea

Total (n = 452) n (%)

Sex

 Female

426

94.2

 Males

26

5.8

Age at diagnosis (mean: 44.6, SD: 14.56)

 < 20 years old

17

3.8

 20–34 years old

106

23.5

 35–44 years old

104

23

 45–54 years old

128

28.3

 55–64 years old

53

11.7

 65–74 years old

26

5.8

 75–84 years old

16

3.5

 > 84 years old

2

0.4

Residence

 Coast

49

10.8

 Highland

389

86.1

 Amazon

14

3.1

 Galapagos

0

0

Employment

 Domestic chores

332

73.5

 Student

20

4.4

 Labor

100

22.1

Education level

 None

22

4.9

 Elementary School

267

59.1

 High school

132

29.2

 College

31

6.9

Family history of thyroid cancer

 Yes

62

13.7

 No

390

86.3

BMI (n = 298) (mean: 28.75, SD: 5.53)

 Normal

76

25.5

 Overweight

113

37.9

 Obesity

109

36.6

Self-reported exposure to (n = 63)

 Radiation

4

6.3

 Chemicals in agriculture

59

93.7

Cigarette Smoking (n = 393)

 Yes

17

4.3

 No

376

95.7

Thyroid function

 Euthyroid

372

82.3

 Hypothyroidism

72

15.9

 Hyperthyroidism

8

1.8

Methods of detection

 Non-incidental (palpable nodule)

207

45.8

 Incidental

245

54.2

- Ultrasound

229

93.5

- Histology

13

5.3

- Unrelated test

3

1.2

Setting of thyroid surgery (n = 450)

 Tertiary Hospital

270

60

 Non- tertiary hospital

180

40

Size of tumor (n = 406) (median = 2 cm [IQ 1.2, 3.1])

 ≤ 1 cm

89

21.9

 > 1 cm

317

78.1

Focality (n = 416)

 Unifocal

230

55.3

 Multifocal

186

44.7

Cervical Lymph nodes metastasis (n = 436)

 Si

211

48.4

 No

225

51.6

MACIS score (n = 408) (median = 4.95 cm [IQ 4.15, 5.95])

 ≤ 6

311

76.2

 > 6

97

23.8

Histopathology, (n = 447)

 Papillary

417

93.3

 Follicular

12

2.7

 Hurtle cells

7

1.5

 Poor differentiated

3

0.7

 Anaplastic

1

0.2

 Medullary

7

1.6

Risk recurrence (n = 437)

 Very low risk

79

18.1

 Low risk

271

62.0

 Indeterminate risk

49

11.2

 High risk

38

8.7

  1. aAll variables without a specific number of patients were calculated from the whole population (n = 452). All the others show the number of people from which the variables were available