According to a study that appeared in Archives of Internal Medicine (Arch Intern Med. 2000;160:526-534.), 13 million Americans may have thyroid disease and not know it. There were more than 25,000 participants in the study; nearly 12% had abnormal serum TSH levels. The screening found that about 9.5% of the subjects had hypothyroidism and slightly more than 2% had hyperthyroidism. Just under 10% of those tested had an undiagnosed thyroid problem. This extrapolates to 13 million Americans nationwide with an undiagnosed thyroid problem. The percentage of patients with hypothyroidism was greater for women, and increases for each decade of age after 34 years
Also, according to the study, even a slight decrease in thyroid function can cause increased cholesterol levels. In short, there is a link between sub clinical hypothyroidism and cardiovascular disease. The findings of the study indicate that as many as 10% of Americans with high cholesterol (98 million) may have the condition because of an under active thyroid.
