Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Appropriate Thyroid Cancer Treatment, Before and After the Release of the 2015 American Thyroid Association Guidelines

The 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) guidelines reduced the recommended extent of therapy for low-risk thyroid cancers. Little is known about the impact of these changes on overall treatment patterns and on previously described racial/ethnic disparities in guideline-concordant care. This study aimed to assess trends in thyroid cancer care before and after release of the 2015 guidelines, with particular attention to racial/ethnic disparities. Patients with well-differentiated thyroid cancer were identified from the National Cancer Database (2010–2018). An interrupted time series design was used to assess trends in treatment before and after the 2015 guidelines. Appropriateness of surgical and radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment was determined based on the ATA guidelines, and the likelihood of receiving guideline-concordant treatment was compared between racial/ethnic groups. The study identified 309,367 patients (White 74