‘80pc of people suffering from thyroid problems are women’

Normal thyroid function is essential for health. A deficiency of thyroxine leads to the slowing of all body processes and weight gain. Around 80 percent of people suffering from thyroid problems are women.

Thyroxine deficiency is easily treatable. Auto-immunity (a failure of the body’s immune system) is another common cause of goitre and thyroid dysfunction. Iodized salt should be used regularly as Pakistan is an area of iodine insufficiency, which may lead to the development of goiters.

These views expressed by Prof Dr Tasnim Ahsan, dean faculty of endocrinology, College of Physicians & Surgeons, at a public awareness seminar, titled ‘Thyroid’, held at the seminar room of the Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine, Karachi University.

Prof Tasnim, who is also a former executive director and head of the Department of Medicine, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, said thyroid disorders constituted the commonest endocrine disorder the world over.

A swelling in the neck due to an enlarged thyroid gland is called goitre, she said, adding that this may or may not be associated with thyroid dysfunction.

Talking about the functions of the thyroid gland, she said that the only function of thyroid gland is to make thyroxine, a hormone that is required by every cell of the body to function normally. She maintained that a deficiency of thyroxine leads to the slowing of all body processes and weight gain.

An excess of thyroxine production or release led to opposite effects, she said and added that thyroxine deficiency was easily treatable and required lifelong replacement therapy. “Hypersecretion can be treated either with oral medicines, radio-active iodine or surgery. A particular variety of auto-immune thyroid disease called Grave’s disease may also be associated with the involvement of one or both eyes, which may have to be treated independent of the thyroid,” Prof Tasnim said.

A doctor should be consulted urgently if there was a rapidly enlarging goitre or nodules in the neck, as these may indicate thyroid cancer, she said. Thyroid cancer was a disease that one got when abnormal cells began to grow in his or her thyroid gland camera, she explained and maintained that thyroid cancer was an uncommon type of cancer.

She pointed out that iodine was an element that was needed for the production of thyroid hormone. Iodine-rich food should be an essential part of people diet, she said and added that iodine was found in various foods like fish, milk, yogurt and other dairy products.