Given the scarcity of epidemiological data on pediatric Graves’ disease (GD), Polkampally et al. used insurance data to report that the incidence of GD among individuals aged 0–18 years in the United States from 2007 to 2022 was 3.33 per 100,000, with an annual increase of 0.042 per 100,000. The highest incidence was observed in the 13–17-year age group.
In China, a multicenter, large-sample retrospective study (n = 4,157) conducted by the Ninth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine described the clinical characteristics of patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TED) at presentation: 44% had active TED, 83% had moderate-to-severe disease, and 49% presented with diplopia. Older age, male sex, smoking, and previous iodine-131 therapy were associated with more severe TED. The proportion of moderate-to-severe TED was higher in patients seen in ophthalmology clinics than in those seen in endocrinology clinics (86% vs. 64%).
For thyroid cancer, Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data showed that the number of new cases among the global working-age population increased from 64,740 in 1990 to 181,750 in 2021, while the number of deaths rose from 9,450 to 16,560 over the same period, representing increases of 176.46% and 75.23%, respectively, contributing to a rising disease burden.
Globally, the incidence of thyroid cancer among adolescents and young adults aged 15–39 years has also risen rapidly since 2000. It now accounts for 20.3% of all new cancer cases in young women, second only to breast cancer, and has become the most common cancer in young men.
Two studies from China and the United States further suggest that the rapidly increasing incidence of thyroid cancer is linked to overdiagnosis driven by the expanded use of clinical imaging, highlighting the importance of the rational use of medical resources.