aetiology
Last edited 04/2018 and last reviewed 08/2021
Important causes of hyperthyroidism include:
- Graves’ disease
- most common cause, accounting for about 75% of cases
- typical seen in women aged 30-50 years but can occur at any age in both sexes
- toxic multinodular goitre and toxic adenoma
- thyroiditis
- subacute thyroiditis
- silent thyroiditis
- postpartum thyroiditis
- drugs e.g. - levothyroxine/triiodothyronine, amiodarone, lithium,
- β human chorionic gonadotrophin mediated hyperthyroidism:
- Gestational hyperthyroidism
- Choriocarcinoma
- Hydatidiform mole
- Struma ovarii
- TSH secreting pituitary adenoma (1)
Aetiology can be divided into:
- primary:
- due to pathology within the thyroid gland
- most common
- secondary:
- a pathological process causes excessive stimulation of a normal thyroid gland
Reference: