The Claim
Between 1993 and 2011 in South Korea, the incidence of thyroid cancer diagnoses increased 15-fold primarily due to the widespread adoption of thyroid ultrasonography screening in asymptomatic individuals, which led to a surge in the detection of small, indolent papillary thyroid cancers that are unlikely to cause harm.
What the research says
Not yet evaluated
We are still looking at what the research says.
These are independent scores, not a percentage. Higher-grade studies count more, so a single strong opposing study can outweigh several weaker ones.
In South Korea, more people were diagnosed with thyroid cancer between 1993 and 2011—not because more people were getting sick, but because doctors started using ultrasound scans to check everyone’s necks, even if they felt fine, and found lots of tiny, harmless tumors that would never have caused problems.
See the scientific wording
In South Korea, the incidence of thyroid cancer diagnoses increased 15-fold between 1993 and 2011, primarily due to widespread adoption of thyroid ultrasonography screening in asymptomatic individuals, leading to a surge in detection of small, indolent papillary thyroid cancers that are unlikely to cause harm.
What the research says
1 studyStudy: South Korea's Thyroid-Cancer "Epidemic"--Turning the Tide.
When doctors in South Korea stopped routinely scanning healthy people’s thyroids with ultrasound, far fewer people ended up having surgery for thyroid cancer — proving that many of those cancers were tiny and harmless, found only because of too much scanning.
Score breakdown, mechanism chain, raw evidence, ideal studies needed & 1 supporting studies
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.