Table 1.
Characteristics of Patients Diagnosed With MTC Between 1998 and 2005 (n = 2968)
| Characteristics | n (%) |
|---|---|
| Patient characteristics | |
| Sex | |
| Male | 1230 (41.4) |
| Female | 1738 (58.6) |
| Age, y | |
| < 30 | 214 (7.2) |
| 31–64 | 1939 (65.3) |
| > 65 | 815 (27.5) |
| Race | |
| White | 2560 (86.3) |
| Black | 247 (8.3) |
| Other | 105 (3.5) |
| Unknown | 56 (1.9) |
| Hispanic | |
| Yes | 174 (5.9) |
| No | 2551 (85.9) |
| Unknown | 243 (8.2) |
| Insurance | |
| Private/Government | 1863 (62.8) |
| Medicare | 731 (24.6) |
| Medicaid | 107 (3.6) |
| Uninsured | 93 (3.1) |
| Unknown | 174 (5.9) |
| Income | |
| <$30 000 | 367 (12.4) |
| $30 000–34 999 | 465 (15.6) |
| $35 000–45 999 | 730 (24.6) |
| $46 000+ | 1220 (41.1) |
| Unknown | 186 (6.3) |
| Education level less than high school diploma, % | |
| 29+ | 427 (14.4) |
| 20–28.9 | 627 (21.1) |
| 14–19.9 | 645 (21.7) |
| <14 | 1083 (36.5) |
| Unknown | 186 (6.3) |
| Rural-urban continuum | |
| Metropolitan population | 2302 (77.6) |
| Other | 472 (15.9) |
| Unknown | 194 (6.5) |
| Tumor characteristics | |
| Size, cm | |
| < 1 | 571 (19.2) |
| 1.1–2.0 | 717 (24.2) |
| 2.1–4.0 | 1023 (34.5) |
| >4.0 | 527 (17.7) |
| Unknown | 130 (4.4) |
| Distant metastases | |
| Yes | 329 (11.1) |
| No | 2639 (88.9) |
| Treatment | |
| Surgery | |
| Total thyroidectomy | 2465 (83.0) |
| Lobectomy | 302 (10.2) |
| No surgery | 201 (6.8) |
| Regional lymph nodes resected | |
| Yes | 1952 (65.8) |
| No | 963 (32.4) |
| Unknown | 53 (1.8) |
| Regional lymph nodes positive | |
| Yes | 1141 (38.4) |
| No | 806 (27.2) |
| Unknown | 1021 (34.4) |
The unknown category for regional lymph nodes positive includes patients that didn't have lymph nodes resected (n = 963), patients that had lymph nodes resected but the presence of metastases was unknown (n = 5), and patients with resection unknown (n = 53).