Risk Factors for Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Table 2

Univariate analysis of clinicopathological factors predictive of lymph node metastasis (LNM).

Parameters	Total	LNM (-)	LNM (+)
Gender
Male	189	109 (57.7%)	80 (42.3%)	<0.001
Female	596	440 (73.8%)	156 (26.2%)
Age (years)
<55	653	444 (68.0%)	209 (32.0%)	0.008
≥55	132	105 (79.5%)	27 (20.5%)
Tumor size
≤5 mm	417	338 (81.1%)	79 (18.9%)	<0.001
>5 mm	368	211 (57.3%)	157 (42.7%)
Extrathyroidal extension
No	736	528 (71.7%)	208 (28.3%)	<0.001
Yes	49	21 (42.9%)	28 (57.1%)
Multifocality
Unifocal	559	406 (72.6%)	153 (27.4%)	0.010
Multifocal	226	143 (63.3%)	83 (36.7%)
Bilaterality
Unilateral	645	464 (71.9%)	181 (28.1%)	0.009
Bilateral	140	85 (60.7%)	55 (39.3%)
Complicated with lymphocytic thyroiditis
No	664	462 (69.6%)	202 (30.4%)	0.608
Yes	121	87 (71.9%)	34 (28.1%)

LNM: lymph node metastasis.