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Thyroid Disease in the Older Patient

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Geriatric Diseases

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Abstract

Thyroid abnormalities are relatively common in the general population but have important clinical implications in the elderly because of the coexisting comorbidities and increased risk of heart disease and hypercholestraemia. The symptoms of thyroid diseases are more subtle in the elderly compared to younger individuals and are often attributed to normal ageing. Thyroid dysfunction is common in the elderly and is present in more than 10% of individuals over the age of 80 years and takes the form of clinical and subclinical hypo- and hyperthyroidism, nodules and thyroid cancer. The review provides an overview of thyroid disease in the elderly, prevalence and the clinical management.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Sydney, Westmead Clinical School, Westmead, NSW, Australia

    Nages Nagaratnam & Kujan Nagaratnam

  2. Rehabilitation and Aged Care Service, Blacktown-Mt Druitt Hospital, Mount Druitt, NSW, Australia

    Gary Cheuk

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  1. Nages Nagaratnam
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Nagaratnam, N., Nagaratnam, K., Cheuk, G. (2018). Thyroid Disease in the Older Patient. In: Geriatric Diseases. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33434-9_47

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33434-9_47

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