Original Investigation

Sex and Mortality Among Patients with Papillary Thyroid Cancer

JAMA Network Open 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.35582

September 29, 2026 at 11:00 AM EDT

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Is patient sex a primary mortality risk factor in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC)? In this cohort study of 4746 adults diagnosed with PTC, male sex was found to be a significant patient age- and tumor genetic–dependent mortality risk specific to PTC; it was highest in male patients aged 45 years or older with dual BRAF V600E/TERT promoter mutations, with an adjusted male-to-female hazard ratio of 3.07. This study supports the integration of patient sex, in conjunction with patient age and tumor genetics, into the risk prognostication of PTC to improve its clinical precision management.

Corresponding Author: Mingzhao Xing, MD, PhD, School of Medicine, Southern University of Science and Technology, 1088 Xueyuan Ave, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China (mxing1@jhmi.edu; xingmz@sustech.edu.cn).

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