Even as people get older—from their 20s to their 80s and beyond—the number of people who have tiny, undetected thyroid cancer stays about the same, hovering between 11.5% and 13.4%.

48

Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

48

Community contributions welcome

48

Prevalence of Subclinical Papillary Thyroid Cancer by Age: Meta-analysis of Autopsy Studies.

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2022 Sep 28

This study looked at people who died and checked their thyroids for hidden cancer, and found that the number of these hidden cancers stayed about the same from age 20 to over 80 — so the claim that it doesn’t increase with age is correct.

Contradicting (0)

0

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Prevalence of Subclinical Papillary Thyroid Cancer by Age: Meta-analysis of Autopsy Studies.

Score: 48

DOI: 10.1210/clinem/dgac468

Similar Assertions

Men and women are equally likely to have small, undetected thyroid cancer that doesn’t cause symptoms, no matter how old they are.

48

0

77%

When doctors examine entire thyroid glands after death, they find thyroid cancer more often than when they only check part of the gland — so how they look at the gland changes how common the cancer seems to be.

48

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72%