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Welcome to the Thyroid Connection
A news source for patients, caregivers, and policymakers devoted to expanding knowledge about the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease, brought to you by the American Thyroid Association.
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| Official Journals of the American Thyroid Association |
Thyroid disease is common and treatable
About 20 million Americans have a thyroid disease, and up to 60% of them remain unaware of their condition. Undiagnosed, thyroid disease can place you at risk of some serious conditions, including heart disease and osteoporosis. Most thyroid diseases can be managed with treatment. Health care professionals know that thyroid problems are more common in women than men, though the cause of most thyroid conditions remains unknown. It’s important to have regular checkups with your doctor and take your medications as prescribed.
Does Graves’ disease dry your eyes or skin?
Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disease that can cause an overactive thyroid, known as hyperthyroidism. A result of Graves’ may be ophthalmopathy or dermopathy, which can result in dry eyes and skin. Wearing sunglasses when outdoors to protect your eyes from sunlight and wind and applying cool compresses to your eyes may provide additional moisture, according to experts at the Mayo Clinic. Lubricating eye drops, without redness removers, can bring comfort during the day, as will a lubricating gel at night to keep the cornea moist. Raising the head of your bed will help reduce fluid from gathering around your eyes and relieve pressure. To sooth red, swollen skin, try an over-the-counter cream containing hydrocortisone. A pharmacist can help you find the one that’s right for you.
Thyroid disease and pregnancy
Hormone changes occur during pregnancy and may alter thyroid function. During a normal pregnancy, human chorionic gonadotropin—the hormone measured in pregnancy tests—is high. This can lead to a temporary reduction in thyroid stimulating hormones. Estrogen, the prime female hormone, can increase thyroid hormone levels in the blood. This means healthcare providers should exercise caution when interpreting lab results during pregnancy. Diagnosing and treating thyroid disease in pregnant women is complex and it may be advisable to see a specialist. The baby relies on the mother’s thyroid hormone initially, but by the end of the first trimester, the baby will start producing his or her own thyroid hormone.
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People on the Move
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 Alan P. Farwell, MD, director of endocrine clinics at Boston Medical Center and associate professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, is consulting editor for this e-newsletter, “Thyroid Connection.”
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 M. Regina Castro, MD, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, is chair of the Patient Affairs & Education Committee at the American Thyroid Association.
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 Takashi Yoshimura, PhD, won the prestigious Van Meter Award at the 85th Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association for his work linking photoreceptors in the brain to thyroid hormone-based regulation of seasonal reproduction in birds, mammals, and fish.
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 Antonio C. Bianco, MD, PhD, professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, is president of the American Thyroid Association.
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 Bryan Haugen, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, was the task force chair of the 2015 American Thyroid Association Management Guidelines for Adult Patients with Thyroid Nodules and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.
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 Patricia Shen Chi Wu, MD, chief of endocrinology at Kaiser Permanente San Diego, is an active member of the American Thyroid Association. Her clinical practice focuses on thyroid diseases and her research interests include improving understanding about thyroid cancer genetics.
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Thyroid cancer prognosis
One of the rarer malignancies, thyroid cancer also has an excellent prognosis, particularly for patients who are younger than 45 years of age and those with small tumors. Ten-year survival for patients with papillary thyroid cancer with the primary tumor confined to the thyroid gland is 100%. Recurrence is higher for older patients and those with more aggressive tumors, but prognosis is still good. To enjoy a good prognosis, it’s important the entire cancer is surgically removed or destroyed with radioactive iodine. Fewer than 2,000 patients die of thyroid cancer annually.
Scent-trained dog can detect thyroid cancer
A German shepherd-mix trained to smell cancer in thyroid tissue from multiple patients was able to correctly identify thyroid cancer in urine 88.2% of the time in a study of 34 patients at a university thyroid clinic. Senior investigator Donald Bodenner, MD, PhD, chief of endocrine oncology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, said physicians could potentially use scent-trained canines to noninvasively and inexpensively detect thyroid cancer at an early stage and patients could avoid unwarranted surgery. The findings were reported at the Endocrine Society's 97th annual meeting in San Diego.
Celiac disease can affect needed thyroid replacement dose
Patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and celiac disease may need more levothyroxine to treat the thyroid condition than those solely with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, according to a study from researchers at Sapienza University of Rome in Italy. However, when the patients with celiac disease followed a gluten-free diet, they were better able to absorb the levothyroxine. If you need a very high dose of levothyroxine, it would be worth asking your healthcare provider about checking for celiac disease.
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Do a “neck check”
Visually checking your thyroid gland in the mirror can help identify thyroid nodules or an enlarged gland. To begin, hold the mirror so you can see your lower neck above the collarbones and below the voice box. Tip your head, drink some water, and swallow. While swallowing, observe for any bulges or protrusions. If you notice anything, see your healthcare provider for a professional checkup.
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ATA announces three research grants
Research is critical in the effort to optimize the health of patients with thyroid disease. The American Thyroid Association has established a research grant program to encourage and support early-stage faculty scientists embarking on an academic career in thyroidology. It recently awarded Jonathan Wasserman, MD, PhD, at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, funds to identify gene mutations and increase the understanding of the cause of elevated thyroid stimulating hormone in newborns. Sungro Jo, PhD, at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, also received funding. Dr. Jo will study the role an amino acid plays in cell responses to stress in Graves’ disease and poor response to therapy for hypothyroidism. Andrea Reyna-Neyra, PhD, at Yale University in New Haven, CT, also received funding to study the how a kidney transport protein affects thyroid function.
How do thyroid problems affect women?
The U.S. Office of Women’s Health reports that one in eight women will develop a thyroid condition, which can cause problems with your menstrual period, difficulty becoming pregnant due to changes in ovulation, and health problems during pregnancy. Your periods can become light, heavy, or irregular with too much or too little thyroid hormone. Hypothyroidism can develop after menopause. In fact, many women incorrectly attribute these symptoms to menopause.
Race and thyrotoxicosis in young Americans
Race and ethnicity may be a newly recognized risk factor for Graves’ disease, according to a recently published study. The author team analyzed data from nearly 18,000 12-49 year old Americans. The researchers reported in Thyroid that non-Hispanic blacks were three times more likely to have high thyroid hormone levels in the bloodstream than non-Hispanic whites. This condition is called thyrotoxicosis. They found no difference between the rate of thyrotoxicosis in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites.
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email: thyroid@thyroid.org
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