Observational Study
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World J Exp Med. Jun 20, 2025; 15(2): 103371
Published online Jun 20, 2025. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v15.i2.103371
Environmental mineral density and thyroid malignancy: A multicenter cross-sectional study
John Bukasa-Kakamba, Ayrton I Bangolo, Shruti Wadhwani, Pascal Bayauli, Nikita Wadhwani, Vignesh K Nagesh, Maria J Mou, Princejeet S Chahal, Branly Mbunga, Sindhuja Chindam, Taieba Mushfiq, Abhishek Thapa, Nidhi L Rao, Isis Kapinga Kalambayi, Rahul Y Rajesh, Ipek B Sarioguz, Vishal KR Thoomkuntla, Shamsul Arefin, Navneet Kaur, Manasse Bukasa Mutombo, Satyajeet Singh, Natalia Muto, Surya Vamsi, Pujita Mallampalli, Aliocha Natuhoyila Nkodila, Simcha Weissman, Jean-René M'Buyamba-Kabangu
John Bukasa-Kakamba, Pascal Bayauli, Manasse Bukasa Mutombo, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa 999069, Congo
John Bukasa-Kakamba, Department of Endocrinology, Liege University Hospital Center, Liège 4000, Belgium
Ayrton I Bangolo, Department of Hematology and Oncology, John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ 07601, United States
Shruti Wadhwani, Nikita Wadhwani, Vignesh K Nagesh, Maria J Mou, Princejeet S Chahal, Sindhuja Chindam, Taieba Mushfiq, Abhishek Thapa, Nidhi L Rao, Rahul Y Rajesh, Ipek B Sarioguz, Vishal KR Thoomkuntla, Shamsul Arefin, Navneet Kaur, Satyajeet Singh, Natalia Muto, Surya Vamsi, Pujita Mallampalli, Simcha Weissman, Department of Internal Medicine, Hackensack Palisades Medical Center, North Bergen, NJ 07047, United States
Branly Mbunga, Department of School of Public Health, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa 999069, Congo
Isis Kapinga Kalambayi, Department of Ophthalmology, Avignon Hospital Center, Avignon 84000, France
Aliocha Natuhoyila Nkodila, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, Protestant University of Congo, Kinshasa 999069, Congo
Jean-René M'Buyamba-Kabangu, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa 999069, Congo
Author contributions: Bukasa-Kakamba J, Bangolo AI, Wadhwani S, Bayauli P, Wadhwani N, Nagesh VK, Mou MJ, Chahal PS, Mbunga B, Chindam S, Mushfiq T, Thapa A, Rao NL, Kalambayi IK, Rajesh RY, Sarioguz IB, Thoomkuntla VK, Arefin S, Kaur N, Mutombo MB, Singh S, Muto N, Vamsi S, Mallampalli P, Nkodila AN, and Weissman S wrote and edited the manuscript; M'Buyamba-Kabangu JR revised and approved the final version; all authors certify that they have contributed sufficiently towards data analysis and manuscript preparation; each author has reviewed the final manuscript version and approves it for publication.
Institutional review board statement: Institutional review board approval was granted by all the participating hospitals across the three provinces.
Informed consent statement: The need for obtaining informed consent was waived by the National Health Ethics Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo under the Institutional Review Board approval No. 197/CNES/BN/PMMF/2020, as all the patient data had been de-identified to protect the privacy of study participants.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors report no conflicts of interest.
STROBE statement: Sample wording: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ayrton I Bangolo, MD, Department of Hematology and Oncology, John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, 92 2nd Street, Hackensack, NJ 07601, United States. ayrtonbangolo@yahoo.com
Received: November 18, 2024
Revised: December 29, 2024
Accepted: January 7, 2025
Published online: June 20, 2025
Processing time: 149 Days and 7.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Geographical variation in mineral density can potentially impact the prevalence of thyroid malignancies. Our study demonstrated that a higher environmental mineral burden was associated with an increased prevalence of thyroid cancer after adjusting for other covariates. More studies utilizing sophisticated assays to measure serum and environmental levels of various heavy metals could reinforce our study findings. This association holds significant potential in accurate risk-stratification and early detection of thyroid neoplasms amongst patients residing in mineral-laden provinces within the Democratic Republic of Congo.