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Abstract Background Prophylactic central neck dissection (pCND) remains controversial during the initial surgery for preoperative and intraoperative node‐negative (cN0) papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Methods Patients undergoing thyroidectomy with or without pCND (Nx) for PTC in nine French surgical departments, registered in the EUROCRINE® national data in France between January 2015 and June 2021, were included in a cohort study. Demographic and clinicopathological characteristics, complications, and recurrence rates were compared using multivariate regression analysis. Results A total of 1905 patients with cN0 PTC were enrolled, including 1534 who had undergone pCND and 371 who hadn't (Nx). Of these, 1546 (81.2%) were female, and the median age was 49 years (range: 15–89 years). Patients who had undergone pCND were more likely to have multifocal tumors (n = 524 [34.2%] vs. n = 68 [18.3%], p .2). After adjusting for covariates (age, sex, multifocality, and pathological T stage) in a multivariable Cox PH model, the performance of lymph node dissection (pCND vs. no‐pCND) was not associated with PTC recurrence (p = .2). Conclusion pCND in PTC does not reduce recurrence and is associated with a two‐fold increase in the incidence of transient hypoparathyroidism. These data should be considered while issuing further guidelines regarding the treatment of patients with cN0 PTC.