An epidemiological study of risk factors of thyroid nodule and goiter in Chinese women

Thyroid nodule (TN) and goiter are two common disorders of the thyroid. Despite their benign nature, both conditions are associated with multiple pathologic conditions including thyroiditis, endocrine dysregulation, and autoimmune disease. In this study we conducted a large-scale epidemiological study in Chinese women to identify risk factors implicated in the pathogenesis of TN and goiter. We analyzed demographic data, medical history, menstrual status, smoking, alcohol consumption, body height, weight, waist circumference, and body mass index (BMI). Thyroid ultrasonography was performed for all subjects. Our results showed that age, menstrual status, BMI, waist circumference, hypertension, dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia had a significant relationship with the prevalence of TN and goiter. There was also a significant association between parity, educational level, smoking, seafood consumption, salt consumption and TN. Waist-hip ratio, BMI, and triglyceride had a significant association with both TN and goiter, and total cholesterol only correlated with TN. Medical management of hypertension significantly affected TN prevalence. Our study also demonstrated age to be a strong predictor of TN and goiter, and obesity a predictor of the likelihood of developing goiter. Thus, our study suggests that the female Chinese population with advance age, menopause, obesity and metabolic syndrome be examined for TN and goiter, and those patients with confirmed TN and goiter be screened for age and obesity related disorders such as metabolic syndrome.