Thyroid Awareness Month: 2000

An estimated 98 million American adults have high cholesterol or total blood cholesterol values of 200 mg/dL or higher.
More than 13 million Americans have a thyroid disorder, yet nearly half remain undiagnosed.
Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) is the most common secondary cause of high cholesterol after diet, according to the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP).
Ninety percent of patients with overt hypothyroidism have increased cholesterol and/or triglycerides.

Average blood cholesterol levels of patients with underactive thyroid are often 30 to 50 percent higher than desirable (normal range is considered under 200 mg/dL).
People with unrecognized subclinical hypothyroidism generally have elevated cholesterol levels as well.

Thyroid disorders affect 20 percent of women over age 60.
Coronary heart disease is the cause of death in more than 50 percent of women over age 70.

The thyroid gland produces hormones that regulate the body's metabolism. If the thyroid gland produces too little hormone, metabolism can slow, having a direct impact on the body's ability to clear cholesterol from the bloodstream. As a result, the risk of cholesterol being deposited in the arteries, and especially around the heart, is increased, thereby increasing the risk for heart disease.

Approximately 39 million American adults are at risk for heart disease because they have cholesterol levels of 240 mg/dL or above.
Coronary heart disease costs the U.S. between $50 and $100 billion each year, and NCEP reports suggest that prevention could greatly reduce this.

Since increased blood cholesterol is the most common cause of heart disease, the NCEP recommends that all adults age 20 and older have their blood cholesterol checked at least once every 5 years.

The lipoprotein profile test measures LDL (low density lipoproteins or "bad" cholesterol which is the main source of damaging build up in the arteries) and HDL (high density lipoproteins or "good cholesterol" which carries bad cholesterol to the liver to remove it from the body).

The treatment of elevated cholesterol must be tailored to each individual patient after evaluating the patient's health history and determining other risk factors related to cardiac health. The treatment of choice for patients who require a medication is a statin, a type drug which is highly effective in lowering LDL-cholesterol.
Because untreated hypothyroidism can increase LDL levels, the prescribing information on cholesterol-lowering statins recommends that all patients diagnosed with high LDL cholesterol be tested for thyroid disease prior to initiating a cholesterol-lowering therapy.
The TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) test is the most accurate and sensitive indicator of thyroid function.
Treatment for thyroid disease is tailored to the type and severity of the disorder.

Hypothyroidism: Treatment with levothyroxine sodium, a synthetic thyroid hormone tablet, corrects this by replacing the missing thyroid hormone in the body.
Hyperthyroidism: Excess thyroid hormone production can be treated by ablative radioactive iodine treatment, anti-thyroid medication or surgical removal. The patient often later develops hypothyroidism.

Once hypothyroidism is treated with a thyroid hormone replacement, and the TSH level is restored to normal, the majority of patients show an estimated 20 to 30 percent reduction in cholesterol levels.

Previous Thyroid Awareness Month Campaigns

Thyroid Awareness Month 2007 – How's Your Thyroid - Who needs to know?
Thyroid Awareness Month 2006 – A Thyroid Imbalance? Target Your Numbers
Thyroid Awareness Month 2005 – A Healthy Thyroid: You Make The Difference
Thyroid Awareness Month 2004 – Take Control of Your Health: Keep Your Thyroid in Balance
Thyroid Awareness Month 2003 – Thyroid Undercover – Hiding in Plain Sight
Thyroid Awareness Month 2002 – The Neck’s Generation
Thyroid Awareness Month 2001 – The Neck’s Time is Now – Think Thyroid
Thyroid Awareness Month 2000 – Take Cholesterol by the Neck
Thyroid Awareness Month 1999 – Thyroid: The Missing T in HRT
Thyroid Awareness Month 1998 – When the Blues Hit
Thyroid Awareness Month 1997 – 1995 – Not available on AACE Online

Thyroid Awareness Month is supported through an unrestricted grant from Abbott Laboratories.