Ingoe L, et al. – The physicians conducted this work to evaluate the frequency of treated hypothyroidism in the community. In the UK, hypothyroidism changes millions of individuals and is currently a prevalent diagnosis in more than 1 in 10 individuals aged above 70 years. The clinical and economic impacts of current management strategies for hypothyroidism, especially in the older population, need to be assessed.

Methods

• In 2016, researchers obtained information regarding number of individuals diagnosed with treated hypothyroidism (defined as patients prescribed levothyroxine) across ten General Practices (total population of 66,843) in the North–East of England.
• They computed total as well as age group specific point prevalence rates.
• They acquired corresponding population data for the United Kingdom and calculated national total and age–specific hypothyroidism prevalence rates.

Results

• It was noted that the overall frequency of hypothyroidism in this community sample was 4.5% (n=3004).
• It was showed that frequency increased across the age groups from 0.1% in children aged 0 – 10 years to 15.1% in those aged more than 90 years.
• It is estimated that the total UK wide frequency of hypothyroidism in 2016 is 3.6%; affecting more than 2.3 million individuals including nearly 800,000 individuals aged >70 years after adjusting for demographic differences between the North–East England and UK populations.