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Serum Levels of Thyroid Hormones in Relation to Breast Cancer Prognosis: A Multicentre Cohort Study

Brange, Annie LU ; Heyman, Ylva LU orcid ; Demircan, Kamil ; Vallon-Christersson, Johan LU orcid ; Malmberg, Martin ; Saal, Lao LU orcid ; Ryden, Lisa LU orcid ; Borg, Åke LU ; Schomburg, Lutz and Manjer, Jonas LU (2026) In Cancer Medicine 15(9).
Abstract
Thyroid function has been suggested to be associated with breast cancer risk, but not much is known about thyroid hormones as a potential prognostic factor for breast cancer. This study investigated the relation between thyroid hormones in breast cancer patients and mortality. A total of 2000 breast cancer patients from the Swedish SCAN-B cohort were followed for 9 years. Blood samples were collected at the time of diagnosis, before surgery, and analysed for free and total T3 and T4. All-cause mortality and recurrent disease were compared between quartiles (Q) using Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for prognostic factors, yielding hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During follow-up, 310 deaths and 167... (More)
Thyroid function has been suggested to be associated with breast cancer risk, but not much is known about thyroid hormones as a potential prognostic factor for breast cancer. This study investigated the relation between thyroid hormones in breast cancer patients and mortality. A total of 2000 breast cancer patients from the Swedish SCAN-B cohort were followed for 9 years. Blood samples were collected at the time of diagnosis, before surgery, and analysed for free and total T3 and T4. All-cause mortality and recurrent disease were compared between quartiles (Q) using Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for prognostic factors, yielding hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During follow-up, 310 deaths and 167 recurrences occurred. Free T3 was associated with a lower mortality; the combined group Q2 to Q4 had an adjusted HR of 0.73 (0.58-0.93) as compared to Q1. Moreover, a high ratio of free T3/T4 was associated with a low mortality in Q2, Q3 and Q4, respectively. High levels of free and total T4 were associated with a high risk of all-cause mortality; the crude HR for free T4 Q4 vs. Q1 was 1.53 (1.14-2.07) and the corresponding HR for total T4 was 1.63 (1.20-2.22). These results did not remain in the adjusted analysis. No clear associations were found regarding recurrent disease. We conclude that high levels of free T3, and a high free T3/T4 ratio were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and may be a marker of a favourable prognosis. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Cancer Medicine
volume
15
issue
9
article number
e72264
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:42717518
  • scopus:105050145987
ISSN
2045-7634
DOI
10.1002/cam4.72264
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
40d4391e-e3e2-4735-83e4-3bc313089a77
date added to LUP
2026-09-18 15:14:58
date last changed
2026-09-19 04:00:51
@article{40d4391e-e3e2-4735-83e4-3bc313089a77,
  abstract     = {{Thyroid function has been suggested to be associated with breast cancer risk, but not much is known about thyroid hormones as a potential prognostic factor for breast cancer. This study investigated the relation between thyroid hormones in breast cancer patients and mortality. A total of 2000 breast cancer patients from the Swedish SCAN-B cohort were followed for 9 years. Blood samples were collected at the time of diagnosis, before surgery, and analysed for free and total T3 and T4. All-cause mortality and recurrent disease were compared between quartiles (Q) using Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for prognostic factors, yielding hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During follow-up, 310 deaths and 167 recurrences occurred. Free T3 was associated with a lower mortality; the combined group Q2 to Q4 had an adjusted HR of 0.73 (0.58-0.93) as compared to Q1. Moreover, a high ratio of free T3/T4 was associated with a low mortality in Q2, Q3 and Q4, respectively. High levels of free and total T4 were associated with a high risk of all-cause mortality; the crude HR for free T4 Q4 vs. Q1 was 1.53 (1.14-2.07) and the corresponding HR for total T4 was 1.63 (1.20-2.22). These results did not remain in the adjusted analysis. No clear associations were found regarding recurrent disease. We conclude that high levels of free T3, and a high free T3/T4 ratio were associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and may be a marker of a favourable prognosis.}},
  author       = {{Brange, Annie and Heyman, Ylva and Demircan, Kamil and Vallon-Christersson, Johan and Malmberg, Martin and Saal, Lao and Ryden, Lisa and Borg, Åke and Schomburg, Lutz and Manjer, Jonas}},
  issn         = {{2045-7634}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Cancer Medicine}},
  title        = {{Serum Levels of Thyroid Hormones in Relation to Breast Cancer Prognosis: A Multicentre Cohort Study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cam4.72264}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/cam4.72264}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}