Thyroid Awareness Month 2004

Facts About Thyroid Disease

Who has Thyroid Disease

• 27 million Americans have overactive or underactive thyroid glands, but more than half remain undiagnosed.
• More than 8 out of 10 patients with thyroid disease are women.
• Women are 5 to 8 times more likely than men to suffer from hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid).
• Fifteen to 20 percent of people with diabetes and their siblings or parents are likely to develop thyroid disease (compared to 4.5 percent of the general population).

The Thyroid Gland

• The thyroid gland is the small, butterfly-shaped gland found just below the Adam’s apple.
• The thyroid gland produces hormones that influence essentially every organ, tissue and cell in the body. In short, if the thyroid doesn’t work properly, neither do you.
• If left untreated, thyroid disease can cause elevated cholesterol levels and subsequent heart disease, infertility, muscle weakness, osteoporosis and, in extreme cases, coma or death.

Hypothyroidism & Pregnancy

• Nearly 1 out of 50 women in the U.S. is diagnosed with hypothyroidism during pregnancy.
• Six out of every 100 miscarriages are associated with thyroid hormone deficiency during pregnancy.
• Five to 18 percent of women are diagnosed with postpartum thyroiditis.
• Approximately 25 percent of women will develop permanent hypothyroidism.

Hypothyroidism & Aging

• Incidence of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) increases with age.
• By age 60, as many as 17 percent of women and 9 percent of men have an underactive thyroid.

Thyroid Disease & Children

• One out of every five-thousand babies born in the U.S. has hypothyroidism.
• Undiagnosed hypothyroid children may experience slowed growth rate.
• Additional symptoms include sluggishness, pallor, dry and itchy skin, increased sensitivity to cold and constipation.

Common Symptoms of Hypothyroidism

Common Symptoms of Hyperthroidism