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Dental x-rays and the risk of thyroid cancer: A case-control study

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 16:11 authored by Anjum MemonAnjum Memon, Sara Godward, Dillwyn Williams, Iqbal Siddique, Khalid Al-Saleh
The thyroid gland is highly susceptible to radiation carcinogenesis and exposure to high-dose ionising radiation is the only established cause of thyroid cancer. Dental radiography, a common source of low-dose diagnostic radiation exposure in the general population, is often overlooked as a radiation hazard to the gland and may be associated with the risk of thyroid cancer. An increased risk of thyroid cancer has been reported in dentists, dental assistants, and x-ray workers; and exposure to dental x-rays has been associated with an increased risk of meningiomas and salivary tumours. Methods. To examine whether exposure to dental x-rays was associated with the risk of thyroid cancer, we conducted a population-based case-control interview study among 313 patients with thyroid cancer and a similar number of individually matched (year of birth +/- three years, gender, nationality, district of residence) control subjects in Kuwait. Results. Conditional logistic regression analysis, adjusted for other upper-body x-rays, showed that exposure to dental x-rays was significantly associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer (odds ratio = 2.1, 95% confidence interval: 1.4, 3.1) (p=0.001) with a dose-response pattern (p for trend < 0.0001). The association did not vary appreciably by age, gender, nationality, level of education, or parity. Discussion. These findings, based on self-report by cases/controls, provide some support to the hypothesis that exposure to dental x-rays, particularly multiple exposures, may be associated with an increased risk of thyroid cancer; and warrant further study in settings where historical dental x-ray records may be available.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Acta Oncologica

ISSN

0284-186X

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

4

Volume

49

Page range

447-453

Department affiliated with

  • Primary Care and Public Health Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2011-09-12

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