Background: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine system malignancy in the world, being the 7thmost common cancer in females, 14th in males and 11th in both sexes in the Iranian population. The presentstudy aimed to determine survival of thyroid cancers in Iran based on sex, age group, pathology and geographicallocation. Methods: The patients selected for this study were 602 out of 5,759 cases listed in the cancer registrysystem between 2001 and 2005. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival estimation and Cox’s proportionalhazard model for calculating hazard ratios according to demographic and risk variables. Results: The overall5-year survival rate was 88.0%. There was a significant difference between survivals of the two sexes. Thebest and worst survival were in the age groups under 40 and over 60 years old, respectively. The best survivalwas for papillary type, with the anaplastic type demonstrating the worst survival. The best survival was in thesouthwest (Khuzestan) and the worst in the northwest (Azarbaijan). Conclusion: Size of young population andsocial determinants may be important effective elements for differences in survival, which should be taken moreinto consideration in managing chronic disease such as thyroid cancer.
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