Epidemic Character of Hypothyroidism at a Community of Maigaoqiao in Nanjing City

Objective:To investigate the prevalence of hypothyroidism in a community of Maigaoqiao at Nanjing.Methods:Com-munity-living subjects,aged 20 years or older,who had lived in Maigaoqiao at Nanjing for at least 5 years were sampled by a randomized clustered sampling method based on national population census data.Fasting serum were sampled from 1540 subjects and thyroid stimu-lating hormone(TSH),free thyroxine(FT4),free triiodothyronine(FT3),thyroid peroxidase antibodie(TPOAb),and thyroglobulin anti-bodie(TgAb) were measured.Results:(1) The prevalences of overt hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism were 0.45%,3.96% respectively in total population.(2) The prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism was significantly higher in females than in males(P0.01),but not overt hypothyroidism(P0.05).(3) The prevalences of overt hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism were not signif-icantly different among age groups in males(P0.05).In females,The prevalence of overt hypothyroidism was significantly increased with advancing age(P=0.02)while the incidence of subclinical hypothyroidism was significantly higher in aged 50 or older groups(P0.01).Conclusions:Comparing with overt hypothyroidism,subclinical hypothyroidism presented higher prevalence in Maigaoqiao at Nan-jing,and more attention should be paid to the follow-up and diagnosis of subclinical hypothyroidism.