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Review
. 2022 Jun;51(2):229-241.
doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2021.11.017. Epub 2022 May 4.

Disparities in Thyroid Care

Debbie W Chen  1 , Michael W Yeh  2
Affiliations
Review

Disparities in Thyroid Care

Debbie W Chen et al. Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Thyroid disease affects an estimated 20 million Americans, with 1 in 8 women developing a thyroid disorder during her lifetime. Although most patients with thyroid cancer have a good prognosis and effective treatments for benign thyroid disease are available, disparities exist in thyroid care and result in worse outcomes for racial and ethnic minorities. Inequities in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid disease are due to the complex interplay of systems-, physician-, and patient-level factors. Thus, innovative strategies that take an ecological approach to addressing racial disparities are needed to achieve equitable care for all patients with thyroid disease.

Keywords: Graves disease; Health care disparity; Hypothyroidism; Minority groups; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Thyroid cancer patient outcomes are influenced by multilevel factors that can be visualized as a hierarchy of needs. To achieve improved thyroid cancer outcomes, it is necessary to fulfill the more critically important needs at the bottom of the hierarchy before moving on to the more advanced needs higher up in the hierarchy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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