Table 1 Baseline demographic and clinical characteristics of study cohort
| Demographic and clinical characteristics | Total |
|---|---|
| Number of patients | 217 |
| Gender | |
| Male | 43 (19.8%) |
| Female | 174 (80.2%) |
| Age (years) | |
| Children (≤18) | 0 (0%) |
| Youth (19–44) | 100 (46.1%) |
| Middle age (45–59) | 103 (47.5%) |
| Elderly (≥60) | 14 (6.5%) |
| Number of nodules | 242 |
| Histopathology | |
| Absent | 69 (28.5%) |
| Benign | 23 (9.5%) |
| PTC | 150 (62.0%) |
| aFNA | |
| I | 8 (3.3%) |
| II | 68 (28.1%) |
| III | 4 (1.7%) |
| IV | 0 (0%) |
| V | 21 (8.7%) |
| VI | 141 (58.3%) |