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Incidence and prevalence of hyperthyroidism: a population-based study in the Piedmont Region, Italy

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Abstract

Purpose

Unrecognized and untreated hyperthyroidism leads to serious clinical complications with adverse outcomes for patients and increasing costs for the health care system. Hence, adequate knowledge of the epidemiological features of such condition is desirable to plan effective interventions. The aim of our study was to estimate incidence and prevalence of hyperthyroidism in the mildly iodine-deficient Italian Region of Piedmont.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted using Administrative Health Databases of the Piedmont Region, Italy (2012–2018). Hyperthyroidism cases were defined as the subjects who had at least one of the following claims: (i) hospital discharge records with hyperthyroidism diagnosis code; (ii) exemption from co-payment for hyperthyroidism; (iii) prescription of one of the following medications: methimazole, propylthiouracil, or potassium perchlorate.

Results

The overall prevalence was 756 per 100,000 inhabitants [95% CI 748–764], and the overall incidence was 81 per 100,000-person year [95% CI 80–82]. The prevalence and incidence increased with age and were two-fold higher among women than men. Women also showed two distinct peaks in incidence at the age of 30 and 50; after the age of 60, the trend became similar between sexes. With regard to the geographic distribution, an increasing gradient of incidence was observed from the northern to the south-western areas of the Region.

Conclusion

This is the first Italian study based on health databases to estimate the incidence and prevalence of hyperthyroidism in the general population. This approach can represent an inexpensive and simple method to monitor patterns of hyperthyroidism in iodine-deficient areas.

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Funding

This work was supported by PRIN (Progetti di ricerca di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale) 2015 (2015ZHKFTA_001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Endocrinology, Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy

    Marina Caputo, Chiara Mele, Flavia Prodam, Gianluca Aimaretti & Paolo Marzullo

  2. Department of Translational Medicine, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy

    Alessandro Pecere, Andrea Sarro, Andrealuna Ucciero & Francesco Barone-Adesi

  3. Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Città della Salute e della Scienza, Turin, Italy

    Loredana Pagano

  4. Department of Health Sciences, Università del Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy

    Flavia Prodam

  5. Division of General Medicine, I.R.C.C.S. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Ospedale San Giuseppe Verbania, Verbania, Italy

    Paolo Marzullo

Authors
  1. Marina Caputo
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  2. Alessandro Pecere
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  10. Francesco Barone-Adesi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marina Caputo.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (ethical committee of the “Maggiore della Carità” Hospital, Novara, CE number 60/19) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Informed consent

The study was conducted using data routinely collected in the regional administrative health care databases in which authors had access to anonymized data only, hence informed consent was not required.

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Caputo, M., Pecere, A., Sarro, A. et al. Incidence and prevalence of hyperthyroidism: a population-based study in the Piedmont Region, Italy. Endocrine 69, 107–112 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-020-02222-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-020-02222-7

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