ArticleThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2020
Does Obesity Cause Thyroid Cancer? A Mendelian Randomization Study.
Article in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review of Mendelian randomization studies on risk of cancer.BMC medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Type 2 Diabetes and Cancer: An Umbrella Review of Observational and Mendelian Randomization Studies.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2021Pooled it
- The Relationship and Gender Disparity Between Thyroid Nodules and Metabolic Syndrome Components Based on a Recent Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Pooled it
- Development and validation of a nomogram prediction model for thyroid dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Unravelling the rise in thyroid cancer incidence and addressing overdiagnosis.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Multi-omics analysis reveals intratumoral microbiota as modulators of the immune environment within thyroid cancer.Translational cancer research · 2025Article
- Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma and Body Mass Index: The Role of Immune System in Tumor Microenvironment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Higher Body Mass Index Shows No Evidence of Association with Histopathologic Markers of Aggressiveness in Early-Stage Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Mechanistic Aspects of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress and Their Association With Thyroid Cancer Risk.Cancer medicine · 2025Review
- Differences and analogies in thyroid cancer discovered incidentally or by thyroid related screening: A multicenter study.European thyroid journal · 2025Article
- Association of gender and metabolic factors with thyroid nodules in T2DM: a retrospective study.PeerJ · 2025Article
- Association between total body muscle-fat ratio and risk of thyroid disorders: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The Role of Body Mass Index (BMI) in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: A Potential Prognostic Factor?Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Is thyroid function associated with polycystic ovary syndrome? A bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.Endocrine · 2024Article
- Sex-dependent impact of obesity on aggressiveness of papillary thyroid cancer.Hormones (Athens, Greece) · 2024Article
- Detection of malignant lesions in cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules using a dual-layer spectral detector CT-clinical nomogram.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Weighty Matters: The Obesity-Thyroid Nodule Connection Unveiling the Impact of Obesity on Thyroid Cancer Risk.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Obesity and head and neck cancer risk: a mendelian randomization study.BMC medical genomics · 2023Article
- Thyroid Nodules and Obesity.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Carbohydrate, Lipid, and Apolipoprotein Biomarkers in Blood and Risk of Thyroid Cancer: Findings from the AMORIS Cohort.Cancers · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe incidence of thyroid cancer is rising, and relatively little is known about modifiable risk factors for the condition. Observational studies have suggested a link between adiposity and thyroid cancer; however, these are subject to confounding and reverse causality. Here, we used data from the UK Biobank and Mendelian randomization approaches to investigate whether adiposity causes benign nodular thyroid disease and differentiated thyroid cancer.
methodsWe analyzed data from 379 708 unrelated participants of European ancestry in the UK Biobank and identified 1812 participants with benign nodular thyroid disease and 425 with differentiated thyroid carcinoma. We tested observational associations with measures of adiposity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. One and 2-sample Mendelian randomization approaches were used to investigate causal relationships.
resultsObservationally, there were positive associations between higher body mass index (odds ratio [OR], 1.15; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.08-1.22), higher waist-hip ratio (OR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.09-1.23), and benign nodular thyroid disease, but not thyroid cancer. Mendelian randomization did not support a causal link for obesity with benign nodular thyroid disease or thyroid cancer, although it did provide some evidence that individuals in the highest quartile for genetic liability of type 2 diabetes had higher odds of thyroid cancer than those in the lowest quartile (OR, 1.45; CI, 1.11-1.90).
conclusionsContrary to the findings of observational studies, our results do not confirm a causal role for obesity in benign nodular thyroid disease or thyroid cancer. They do, however, suggest a link between type 2 diabetes and thyroid cancer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.