Abstract
Diseases of the thyroid gland are common in the elderly and occur in about 3% of those aged over 65 years. Underactivity of the gland is almost six times more common than overactivity and men and women are equally affected. This is an area in geriatric medicine where routine thyroid screening tests have a great deal of value since unless they are done many cases of disease will be missed. Symptoms and signs of thyroid disease may be very vague and the more obvious symptoms that occur in younger patients may be absent in the elderly. If there is any question of the diagnosis, a serum T4 and TSH should be estimated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1981 A. Martin
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Martin, A. (1981). Endocrine diseases. In: Problems in Geriatric Medicine. Problems in Practice Series, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7221-9_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7221-9_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-011-7223-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-7221-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive