Thyroid cancer increase baffles researchers

By Caroline Stetler

Monday, May 4th, 2009 |

The number of people diagnosed with thyroid cancer is growing at an unprecedented rate and medical researchers don’t know why.

Thyroid cancer increased at a rate of 6.5 percent a year from 1997-2006 making it the fastest increasing cancer among women and men, according to recently released National Cancer Institute data. Over that same period, prostate, breast, lung and colon cancer rates decreased. The 2006 data is the most recent data available; the three-year lag represents the time it takes researchers to compile the statistics.

Experts can only speculate about what is causing a change in the thyroid ...