Abstract:
Background: Thyroid diseases are common endocrine abnormalities affecting the cellular
metabolism of the body with a number of potentially serious complications. There are few studies
addressing the clinical picture of thyroid diseases in Ethiopia.
Objective: This study aims to assess the patterns, clinical presentations, and treatment outcome
of thyroid disorders among adult patients.
Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study with medical chart review conducted among
395 randomly selected adult patients following at medical department & surgical referral units of
Hiwot Fana Comprehensive Specialized Hospital from June 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023. Descriptive
analysis was used for statistical analysis. The data was processed using SPSS20, summarized and
presented in the form of narratives & tables.
Result: A total of 395 patients with thyroid disease, 86.3% were female and 13.7% were male,
with an age range of 18 to 82 years and 64.4% ranges from 30-49 years. Among all, 65.3% had
overt hyperthyroidism and 24.3% had hypothyroidism while subclinical hyperthyroidism and
subclinical hypothyroidism were documented in 8.5% & 1.5% of the patients. TMNG and TA
were responsible for 73.6% of hyperthyroidism cases as primary hypothyroidism due to
hashimoto’s thyroiditis accounted for 53.3% of the hypothyroidism cases. Heat intolerance
(90.1%), Palpitation (79.1) & hyperhidrosis (76.4%) were the commonest presentations of
thyrotoxicosis, whereas hypothyroidism patients presented mostly with fatigue (92.2%),
menstrual disturbance (25%), cold intolerance (20.5%) & coarse puffy face
(27.2%).Thyrotoxicosis was treated with Propylthiouracil (56.8%) with or without beta blockers,
thyroidectomy was done in 126 (43.2%), none received radioiodine therapy. Hypothyroidism
patients were treated with thyroxin. About half of hyperthyroid patients achieved euthyroid state
with treatment.
Conclusion: Thyroid diseases were more common in females and more prevalent in middle
agers. More than two thirds of the thyroid disorders were caused by TMNG and primary
hypothyroidism. Euthyroid state was achieved in only half of treated patients. Therefore, it is
better to create endocrine unit to improve follow up, avail proper investigation & medications,
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and introduce advanced modalities including radioactive iodine uptake study and radioactive
iodine therapy.
