Thyroid

Graves’ disease patients treated with antithyroid drugs may face increased cancer risk

October 11, 2024

Patients with Graves’ disease (GD) who received antithyroid drugs (ATDs) as initial treatment had a higher risk of developing certain cancers compared with the general population, according to a nationwide study from South Korea. These findings suggest that GD patients treated with ATDs should be closely monitored for cancer development.

The study analyzed data from the National Health Information Database, including 29,502 patients with GD and 57,173 age- and sex-matched controls. Researchers estimated cancer risk, adjusting for follow-up periods to account for surveillance effects.

GD patients had significantly higher risks of several cancers:

• Biliary tract and pancreatic cancers: hazard ratio (HR) 1.41; CI: 1.24-1.60
• Thyroid cancer: HR 15.51; CI: 12.29-19.57
• Prostate cancer: HR 1.48; CI: 1.28-1.71
• Ovarian cancer: HR 1.31; CI: 1.13-1.52

The increased risk persisted after a follow-up period of more than 5 years. Thyroid cancer risk was particularly high during the initial follow-up period (HR 19.35; CI: 7.66-48.87).

Source:

Lee JY, et al. (2024, September 23). Thyroid. Cancer Risks of Patients with Graves' Disease Who Received Antithyroid Drugs as Initial Treatment: A Nationwide Population-Based Analysis. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39228052/