Abstract
AIM: The aim of this paper was to evaluate the incidence of thyroid gland diseases in relation to age, sex, existing associated symptoms and thyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels, in correlation with morphological characteristics and corresponding clinical diagnosis for thyroid gland. METHODS: Retrospective research was conducted in the period 1-Dec-2017 to 31-Dec-2017 and included a total of 500 subjects of both sexes aged 1 to 80 years. All subjects had clinical examination, which included anamnestic data, palpatory examination of thyroid gland, as well as functional status of thyroid gland. RESULTS: The results of the research have shown that majority of subjects were females (78.6% vs. 21.4%). The largest number of subjects was in the age group 41 to 60 years. The average age of females was 43.22 years and 42.86 for males. The most common associated symptom for both sexes was related to cardiovascular system disorder (61.2%). Subclinical hypothyroidism was the most prevalent thyroid gland disease (12.8%), while diffuse enlargement of thyroid gland (4.60 %) was the most common in morphological classification. The mean value for free thyroxine for the overall sample was 14.39 pmol/L and 3,4 mlU/L for thyroid-stimulating hormone. Thyroid-stimulating hormone levels were highest in the age group 41-60 years (p=0.043). CONCLUSION: The overall incidence of thyroid gland diseases was 18.57% for females and 13.08% for males. Free thyroxine levels were highest in thyroid gland with nodular changes and subclinical hypothyroidism (p=0.0001). Thyroid-stimulating hormone levels had the highest value in a thyroid gland with diffuse changes and subclinical hypothyroidism (p=0.0001).