Analysis of Urinary Iodine Concentration in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer and Breast Cancer Cases

Iodine intake can affect thyroid and breast cells, and urinary iodine concentration (UIC) is an effective biomarker for iodine intake.

This study aimed to analyze the correlation between urinary iodine concentration in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and breast cancer (BC) subjects.

The study consisted of 80 subjects divided into case (20 DTC and 20 BC subjects) and control (40 subjects). Morning urine or spot urine was used for UIC measurement.

In thyroid cancer, UIC median patients and controls were 195.45 ± 133.61 µg/L and 145 ± 39.64 µg/L, respectively, with p =0.33. The UIC median of PTC subjects was significantly higher compared to FTC subjects, 227.12±130.98 μg/L versus 68.75±22.95 μg/L, p=0.00, and papillary thyroid cancer is closely related to a high iodine excretion in urine with contingency coefficient  (c)=0.722. In BC patients, regardless of subtypes, breast cancer subjects showed a significantly lower iodine excretion level. The median of UIC patients and controls were 80.05 ± 38.24 µg/L and 144.25 ± 36.79 µg/L, respectively, p=0.000.

Iodine urine concentrations strongly correlate with the type of DTC histopathology, and in BC subjects, IUC was significantly lower compared to the control.