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Thyroid Awareness Month

Published on 

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

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Did You Know?

January is Thyroid Awareness Month.

 

Why Should You Care?

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) has published prevalence and impact information on thyroid disease (https://www.thyroid.org/media-main/press-room/), for example:

  • More than 12 percent of the United States population will develop a thyroid condition during their lifetime,
  • An estimated twenty million Americans have a form of thyroid disease,
  • Up to 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition,
  • Women are five to eight times more likely than men to have thyroid problems, and
  • Undiagnosed thyroid disease may put a patient at risk from certain serious conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and infertility.

 

What Can You Do?

Take steps to understand what the thyroid gland does, what thyroid hormone impacts and what can happen when your thyroid gland is not functioning properly. According to the CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/hanford/htdsweb/guide/thyroid.htm)

  • The thyroid gland, located in the front of the neck just below the Adam’s apple, takes iodine from your diet and makes thyroid hormone. Thyroid hormone affects your physical energy, temperature, weight, and mood.
  • In general, there are two broad groups of thyroid disorders: abnormal function and abnormal growth (nodules) in the gland.
  • Thyroid disorders are common, especially in older people and women. Most thyroid problems can be detected and treated.
  • Abnormal function is usually related to the gland producing too little thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism) or too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism).
  • Benign nodules in the thyroid are common, usually do not cause serious health problems, can occasionally put pressure on the neck and cause trouble with swallowing, breathing, or speaking if too large.
  • Thyroid cancers are much less common than benign nodules and with treatment, the cure rate for thyroid cancer is more than 90 percent. You can learn more about Thyroid Cancer and the annual Medicare Treatment costs of Thyroid Cancer in a related RealTime Medicare Data (RTMD) infographic in this week’s newsletter.

 

Have your doctor check for thyroid disease during a standard physical exam by palpation of the thyroid gland. There are two standard blood tests that your doctor may recommend. One measures your thyroid hormone level (T4) and another measures thyrotropin (TSH) which is a hormone secreted from the pituitary gland that controls how much thyroid hormone your thyroid makes.

 

Treatment for thyroid disease will be specific to the type and severity of the thyroid disorder and the age and overall health of the patient.

Article Author: Beth Cobb, RN, BSN, ACM, CCDS
Beth Cobb, RN, BSN, ACM, CCDS, is the Manager of Clinical Analytics at Medical Management Plus, Inc. Beth has over twenty-five years of experience in healthcare including eleven years in Case Management at a large multi-facility health system. In her current position, Beth is a principle writer for MMP’s Wednesday@One weekly e-newsletter, an active member of our HIPAA Compliance Committee, MMP’s Education Department Program Director and co-developer of MMP’s proprietary Compliance Protection Assessment Tool.

This material was compiled to share information.  MMP, Inc. is not offering legal advice. Every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the information is accurate and useful.