Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;99(9):3184-92.
doi: 10.1210/jc.2013-4468. Epub 2014 Jun 17.

Increased risk of long-term sickness absence, lower rate of return to work, and higher risk of unemployment and disability pensioning for thyroid patients: a Danish register-based cohort study

M A Nexo  1 , T Watt, J Pedersen, S J Bonnema, L Hegedüs, A K Rasmussen, U Feldt-Rasmussen, J B Bjorner
Affiliations

Increased risk of long-term sickness absence, lower rate of return to work, and higher risk of unemployment and disability pensioning for thyroid patients: a Danish register-based cohort study

M A Nexo et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Context: Little is known about how thyroid diseases affect work ability.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the risk of work disability for patients with thyroid disease compared with the general population.

Design, setting, and participants: In a longitudinal register study, outpatients (n = 862) with nontoxic goiter, hyperthyroidism, Graves' orbitopathy (GO), autoimmune hypothyroidism, or other thyroid diseases and their matched controls (n = 7043) were observed in the years 1994-2011 in Danish national registers of social benefits, health, and work characteristics. Cox regression analyses estimated adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for the first year after diagnosis and subsequent years.

Main outcome measures: Transitions between work, long-term sickness absence, unemployment, and disability pension were measured.

Results: Patients differed significantly from the general population with regard to sickness absence, disability pension, return from sickness absence, and unemployment. In the first year after diagnosis, higher risks of sickness absence was seen for GO (HR 6.94) and other hyperthyroid patients (HR 2.08), who also had lower probability of returning from sickness absence (HR 0.62) and higher risk of disability pension (HR 4.15). Patients with autoimmune hypothyroidism showed a lower probability of returning from sickness absence (HR 0.62). In subsequent years, GO patients had significantly higher risk of sickness absence (HR 2.08), lower probability of return from sickness absence (HR 0.51), and unemployment (HR 0.52) and a higher risk of disability pension (HR 4.40). Hyperthyroid patients also had difficulties returning from sickness absence (HR 0.71).

Conclusions: Thyroid patients' risk of work disability is most pronounced in the first year after diagnosis and attenuates in subsequent years. GO patients have the highest risk of work disability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Examples of transitions between work-related states for patients with thyroid diseases and their matched controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Brandt F, Thvilum M, Almind D, et al. Hyperthyroidism and psychiatric morbidity. Evidence from a Danish nation-wide register study. Eur J Endocrinol. 2013;170(2):341–348 - PubMed
    1. Brandt F, Thvilum M, Almind D, et al. Morbidity before and after the diagnosis of hyperthyroidism: a nationwide register-based study. PLoS One. 2013;8(6):e66711. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Thomsen AF, Kvist TK, Andersen PK, Kessing LV. Increased risk of developing affective disorder in patients with hypothyroidism: a register-based study. Thyroid. 2005;15(7):700–707 - PubMed
    1. Thvilum M, Brandt F, Almind D, Christensen K, Brix TH, Hegedus L. Type and extent of somatic morbidity before and after the diagnosis of hypothyroidism. a nationwide register study. PLoS One. 2013;8(9):e75789. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abraham-Nordling M, Torring O, Hamberger B, et al. Graves' disease: a long-term quality-of-life follow up of patients randomized to treatment with antithyroid drugs, radioiodine, or surgery. Thyroid. 2005;15(11):1279–1286 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms