Epidemiological analysis and overall survival of thyroid cancer in a developing Middle Eastern Country over 18 years.

e18071 Background: The significance of thyroid cancer lies not only in the resulting morbidity and mortality, but in its prevalence as the most commonly encountered endocrine malignancy in the Middle East and globally. Given that thyroid cancer epidemiology in the Middle East is not sufficiently evaluated, the establishment of epidemiological characteristics of thyroid cancer in the Middle Eastern population is of substantial importance for the introduction of effective interventions, especially in scarcely resourced countries and populations. Methods: Comprehensive data on 4,362 patients of various nationalities residing in Jordan diagnosed with thyroid cancer during the period 2000-2018 were retrieved from the Jordan Cancer Registry, the official institutionalized reporting body for cancer epidemiology in Jordan. Epidemiological analysis including Kaplan-Meier analysis and regression models was performed to establish the epidemiological features of thyroid cancer in a Middle Eastern population. Results: A total of 4,362 patients with a mean age of 43.5 ± 29.6 years old and a significant female predominance of 74.9% were included in the analysis. 7.97% of the enrolled patients were smokers at the time of diagnosis. Thyroid carcinoma was found in the right and left thyroid lobes almost equally the same, with only 1.28% having involvement in both lobes. Localized thyroid carcinoma was encountered in 28.8% of the sample, while 6.65% had systemic involvement and distant metastasis. The observed overall survival rate was determined to be 94.7%, 94.7%, 94.1%, 88.2%, and 86.6% at 1-year, 2-year, 3-year, 4-year, and 5-year interval, respectively. There is a statistically significant incline in the crude incidence of thyroid cancer in Jordan over the 18 years with a crude incidence estimated effect of 0.19 (P-value<0.001). Conclusions: Over 18 years, thyroid cancer in Jordan has been progressively increasing in incidence with a worrisome uptrend that carries significant socioeconomic and health burden. Ensuring preventative measures such as reduced exposure to radiation and early detection of thyroid nodules are warranted to achieve better outcomes.