Thyroid Hormone Changes Correlate to Combined Breast Cancer with Primary Thyroid Cancer

Figures & data

Table 1 Comparisons of Clinicopathological Factors of Breast Cancer Between Patients with Only Primary Breast Cancer (BC) and Patients with Both Primary Breast Cancer and Primary Thyroid Cancer (BC-TC)

Factors	BC (n=97)	BC-TC (n=97)	p value
Age (years)
< 55	56 (57.7%)	63 (64.9%)	0.376
≥ 55	41 (42.3%)	34 (35.1%)
Family history of breast cancer
Yes	8 (8.2%)	11 (11.3%)	0.630
No	89 (91.8%)	86 (88.7%)
Family history of thyroid cancer
Yes	3 (3.1%)	6 (6.2%)	0.497
No	94 (96.9%)	91 (93.8%)
Menstrual state
Post-menopause	54 (55.7%)	47 (48.4%)	0.589
Pre-menopause	36 (37.1%)	41 (42.3%)
Perimenopause	7 (7.2%)	9 (9.3%)
Pathological type
Invasive ductal carcinoma	71 (73.2%)	67 (69.1%)	0.694
Invasive lobular carcinoma	11 (11.3%)	13 (13.4%)
Medullary carcinoma	5 (5.2%)	3 (3.1%)
Carcinoma in situ	10 (10.3%)	14 (14.4%)
Histological grade
I	4 (4.1%)	1 (1.0%)	0.108
II	62 (63.9%)	53 (54.6%)
III	31 (32.0%)	43 (44.4%)
Lymph node metastasis
Positive	34 (35.1%)	25 (25.8%)	0.212
Negative	63 (64.9%)	72 (74.2%)
Tumor size (cm)
≤ 2	49 (50.5%)	58 (59.8%)	0.248
> 2	48 (49.5%)	39 (40.2%)
Estrogen receptor
Positive	44 (45.4%)	66 (68.1%)	0.002
Negative	53 (54.6%)	31 (31.9%)
Progesterone receptor
Positive	50 (51.5%)	69 (71.1%)	0.008
Negative	47 (48.5%)	28 (28.9%)
Human epidermal growth factor receptor
Positive	36 (37.1%)	42 (43.3%)	0.464
Negative	61 (62.9%)	55 (56.7%)
Metastasis classification
M0	91 (93.8%)	89 (91.8%)	0.783
M1	6 (6.2%)	8 (8.2%)

Notes: The data were shown as n (percentage). The comparisons of data between the two groups were done by Fisher’s exact test or Chi-square test.

Figure 1 Comparisons of serum triiodothyronine (T3) (A), thyroxine (T4) (B), free triiodothyronine (FT3) (C), free thyroxine (FT4) (D) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) (E) among healthy controls (n = 90), only primary breast cancer (BC, n = 97) and patients with both primary breast cancer and primary thyroid cancer (BC-TC, n = 97). Data were shown with box plot. ns indicates no statistical significance. ***p < 0.001.

Table 2 Multivariate Logistic Analysis of Clinicopathological Factors for Complicated Primary Thyroid Cancer in Patients with Primary Breast Cancer

	OR	95% CI	p value
ER positive	2.74	1.63 to 4.82	0.016
PR positive	2.28	1.39 to 5.71	0.021
Serum TSH > 4.45 mU/L	1.86	1.24 to 3.35	0.029

Abbreviations: OR, odds ratio; ER, Estrogen receptor; PR, Progesterone receptor; TSH, Thyroid stimulating hormone.

Figure 2 (A) Comparisons of serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) between estrogen receptor negative (ER-, n = 31) and positive (ER+, n = 66) in patients with both primary breast cancer and primary thyroid cancer. (B) Comparisons of serum TSH between progesterone receptor negative (PR-, n = 28) and positive (PR+, n = 69) in in patients with both primary breast cancer and primary thyroid cancer. Data were shown with box plot. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.