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Information about hyperthyroidism (or overactive thyroid) in children, including symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and management.
- Children and thyroid disorders
Thyroid disorders are rare in children and newborn babies...
- Children and thyroid disorders
Graves disease is not common before 5 years of age. The rate of Graves disease increases during puberty and peaks between 10 years and 15 years of age. Many children with Graves disease have a family history of autoimmune thyroid disease or other autoimmune disorders. Children with Down syndrome are at increased risk of Graves disease.
- Overview
- What is the life expectancy of a person with hyperthyroidism?
- How does it affect life expectancy?
- What is hyperthyroidism?
- Effects of hyperthyroidism on the body
- Thyroid storm
- Prognosis of hyperthyroidism due to Graves’ disease
- Treatment
- Summary
People with hyperthyroidism have a higher risk of developing further serious health conditions, such as cardiovascular and kidney disease. A person’s life expectancy may depend on whether and how they develop those conditions.
Someone with hyperthyroidism has an overactive thyroid gland that makes excessive amounts of thyroid hormone.
If an individual with the condition does not have serious complications, treatment is effective in managing symptoms and producing positive outcomes. In contrast, people who develop a rare complication known as thyroid storm have a death rate of about 16%.
This article discusses the life expectancy of a person with hyperthyroidism, including how the condition affects the body and how it poses a serious threat to health. It also examines thyroid storm, the prognosis for Graves’ disease, and treatment options.
Data on the exact life expectancy of someone with hyperthyroidism are not available. That said, a 2017 study suggests that it is 3.1 to 3.5 years shorter than those without the condition.
However, this statistic does not show how life expectancy compares with that of someone without either type of thyroid disease. A 2019 study found that individuals with hypothyroidism who were aged 60 or older were 26% more likely to die from all causes than those without thyroid disease.
Factoring together the above two studies suggests that a person with hyperthyroidism who is aged 60 or older has a somewhat higher than 26% risk of death from all causes.
Learn more about hyperthyroidism.
Evidence indicates that people with hyperthyroidism have a higher risk of noncommunicable conditions. As these illnesses are serious, they can affect life expectancy. These conditions include:
•cardiovascular disease, which involves conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels
•cancer
•chronic, or long-term kidney disease
Research provides an in-depth description of how hyperthyroidism increases the likelihood of cardiovascular disease. It harms the ability of the heart to contract and increases the risk of blood clots developing. This can lead to heart failure and increases the risk of coronary heart disease, which may result in a heart attack or stroke.
An older 2016 study reports that individuals with hyperthyroidism have a higher risk of death from all causes, with heart failure as the main cardiovascular cause.
Hyperthyroidism is a condition where the thyroid gland makes more thyroid hormones than a person needs. Because these hormones regulate how someone uses energy, it affects many organs in the body.
The condition affects approximately 1% of Americans aged 12 years and older.
As hyperthyroidism speeds up many body functions, it can cause the following symptoms:
•fast or irregular heartbeat
•shaky hands and muscle weakness
•weight loss despite increased appetite
•nervousness, tiredness, irritability, and trouble sleeping
•frequent bowel movements
Thyroid storm is a sudden, rare, life threatening complication of hyperthyroidism that involves extremely high thyroid hormone levels. It can present with symptoms that include:
•high fever
•fast heartbeat
•dysfunction of the brain and spinal cord, such as delirium or coma
In the United States general population, it affects 0.57 to 0.76 cases per 100,000 people per year. The death rate of this complication for those older than 60 years is about 16%.
Learn more about thyroid storm.
The most common cause of hyperthyroidism — Graves’ disease — is an autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks the thyroid gland. This results in the synthesis of excess hormones. It is responsible for four of every five cases of hyperthyroidism in the U.S.
Hyperthyroidism due to Graves’ disease has overall positive outcomes that stem from the effectiveness of treatment for symptom management. Although Graves’ disease has no cure, medications can manage thyroid levels in almost all cases.
Treatments for hyperthyroidism include:
•Medications: Options involve anti-thyroid drugs, such as methimazole (Tapazole), which cause the thyroid gland to produce lower amounts of hormones. Another choice is beta-blockers, such as propranolol (Inderal LA), which help control symptoms by blocking the action of substances on nerve cells.
•Radioactive iodine: This gradually destroys the cells in the thyroid gland that make thyroid hormones.
•Surgery: This involves removing part or all of the thyroid gland.
The life expectancy of those with hyperthyroidism is generally favorable due to effective treatments.
However, people with the condition have a higher risk of developing conditions such as cardiovascular disease or chronic kidney disease, particularly if they do not seek treatment. Any of these can negatively affect the outlook.
If an underactive thyroid is not treated, it can lead to complications, including heart disease, goitre, pregnancy problems and a life-threatening condition called myxoedema coma (although this is very rare).
Oct 25, 2019 · In this study, we found that people with low–normal thyroid function (i.e., highest tertile of TSH and lowest tertile of FT 4 reference ranges) are expected to live more years with and without NCD than those with high–normal thyroid function (i.e., lowest tertile of TSH and highest tertile of FT 4 reference ranges).
- Arjola Bano, Layal Chaker, Francesco U. S. Mattace-Raso, Natalie Terzikhan, Maryam Kavousi, M. Arfan...
- 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002957
- 2019
- PLoS Med. 2019 Oct; 16(10): e1002957.
Information. Living with thyroid disorders. Hyperthyroidism in children FAQs. Are there any other problems/diseases my child is likely to have because of hyperthyroidism? What should I be looking for? Some children who have hyperthyroidism caused by Graves’ disease may develop thyroid eye disease, although this is rare.
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Thyroiditis, also known as Hashimoto’s disease, is an autoimmune disorder - a disease in which the immune system attacks healthy organs or tissue (in this case, the thyroid). It is a major cause of hypothyroidism in children and adolescents.
