Influence of frequent upper respiratory infections on the occurrence of thyroid gland diseases – a comparison with general population

Overview

This study involved 364 patients from the endocrinology out-patient clinic undergoing treatment for thyroid gland disease for varying lengths of time (the total number of individuals under medical treatment was about 1 500 and all of them were requested to respond). The goal of the study was to find out whether there is a casual nexus between frequent and repeated inflammation of the upper respiratory system and thyroid disease. All of the patients’ ailments were recorded. The method of open and closed questions was employed. To better evaluate the results, the patients were subsequently divided based on their own statements into: euphuistic thyroid, inflammation, hypothyreosis, hyperthyroidism, tumour and operation (in the course of processing the results the single successive pairs of diseases were put together because of the low presence of some of them in the study group). The study also found that almost one fifth of the patients asked did not know which kind disease they actually suffered from. This finding was immediately put to the head of the department who promised improvements aimed at the best possible patient awareness.

Key words:
upper respiratory tract infections, thyroid gland disease, disturbances of endocrine function, tumours, operations.