How Many Americans Suffer Thyroid Disorders?
Statistics Reveal Thyroid Disease is Common in the USA
Jul 31, 2009
According to statistics by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and other medical organizations, approximately twenty-seven million Americans are experiencing a thyroid disorder. This includes the estimate that about half of these cases remain undiagnosed.
Thyroid Disease the most common Endocrine Disorder
When compared to the AACE statistics for Americans who experience diabetes, which is approximately sixteen million, the number of people with thyroid disease exceeds that by more than 40%. This makes thyroid disease, the most common endocrine disorder (problem affecting hormone glands) in the USA. Approximately 80% of thyroid disease is experienced by females and women are five times more likely to develop hypothyroidism (an under-active thyroid) than are men. When all combined, about eight out of ten thyroid disease cases (80%) are hypothyroid conditions with the other two out of ten (20%) being hyperthyroid conditions. As many as two out of ten people who develop diabetes will also experience the onset of a thyroid disorder. AACE Newsroom: The Truth about the Thyroid
Hereditary and Age-related Risks for Thyroid Disorders
The risk for developing thyroid disease increases when a person is the offspring of at least one parent with thyroid disease. The risk is placed at approximately 50%, meaning about half of all children who have parents with a thyroid disorder, will develop one themselves by the age of 40. The most common age of onset for thyroid disease is between 35 and 40 years. Age-related hypothyroidism can occur at age 60-years and older, with at least 15% of senior-age women and at least 8% of senior-age men developing under-active thyroid glands.
The Risk During and After Pregnancy
Pregnancy also increases the risk for developing hypothyroidism, with approximately 2% of pregnant women experiencing low functioning thyroid glands. This also increases the risk for their newborns to have congenital hypothyroidism (at birth), with statistics placing one-in-five-thousand infants born with under-active thyroids. If “newborn screening” is not done (blood thyroid testing), congenital hypothyroidism can be left undiagnosed and untreated in newborns and can result in slowed development and learning disorders. Following pregnancy, women are at higher risk for developing postpartum hypothyroidism (one in six) which can develop as much as one-year following giving birth. Up to 25% of these postpartum cases will require lifelong treatment.
Thyroid Autoimmunity, Nodules, Goiters and Cancer
Approximately 10% of Americans test positive for thyroid antibodies. These are the “anti-thyroidperoxidase” and “anti-thyroglobulin” antibodies that are present in both autoimmune hypothyroid and hyperthyroid conditions. Only about 1% of people who test positive for thyroid autoimmunity have full-blown thyroid hormone imbalances, with up to 10% having borderline or subclinically abnormal thyroid hormone levels.
About 40% of confirmed hyperthyroidism cases are caused by Graves’ disease (autoimmune hyperthyroidism) affecting approximately 1% of the US population or about 3 million people. In comparison, about 14 million Americans are experiencing Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (autoimmune hypothyroidism) and the condition accounts for about 95% of confirmed hypothyroid cases in the US and in other industrialized countries.
Thyroid nodules in general are found in up to half (50%) of the general population. Only 5 to 10 percent of thyroid disease cases involve malignancy (cancer) and only 10% of suspicious thyroid nodules (tumors) are found to be malignant.
Goiters (swollen thyroid glands) are less common in the USA, being experienced by approximately 5% of Americans and many of these do not involve thyroid hormone imbalance. When looked at worldwide, approximately 740 million people are experiencing goiters with approximately 50 million cases being caused by iodine deficiency, a cause that is rare in the USA.
Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of hypothyroidism worldwide, affecting populations that consume inadequate amounts of iodine that is absent from table salt and foods in their diets.
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