Table 1.

Baseline characteristics of 667 thyroid nodules with benign cytology.

Reference standard	Benign	Malignant	P value
Number of nodules	656	11
Mean age (years)∗	49.1 ± 12.0	53.0 ± 11.4	0.277
Gender			0.734
Male	82 (12.5)	1 (9.1)
Female	574 (87.5)	10 (90.9)
Mean nodule size (mm)∗	20.7 ± 10.1	17.6 ± 12.5	0.315
US final assessment before FNA			<0.001
Probably benign	594 (90.5)	3 (27.3)
Suspicious malignant	62 (9.5)	8 (72.7)

FNA: fine-needle aspiration.

Data in parentheses are percentages.

∗Data are the means ± standard deviations.