Objective: Characterisation of non-cancerous thyroid disorder population and sources of variation within treatment pathways

Rationale: There are an estimated 200 million people worldwide who suffer from some form of thyroid disease according to the Thyroid Foundation of Canada. Women are 5-8 times more likely to develop it than men. 5-10 % of pregnancies end up with postpartum thyroiditis. Over 12 % of the US population has some type of a thyroid condition. As a result, synthetic thyroid hormone is the top prescribed medication in USA with more than 20 million prescriptions per month. Patients who suffer from the symptoms of the disease often spend years un- or misdiagnosed. Depending on the type of the condition symptoms include, among others, anxiety, weight gain or loss, depression and brain fog. Patients can suffer from symptoms of the disease even though their thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) values are within the reference ranges. Currently, the treatment for any type of a thyroid condition includes the process of testing different drug combinations and doses for a period of time until the optimal one is found. To conclude, patients with a thyroid dysfunction would benefit from looking into treatment variations occurring due to the heterogeneous and drug and dose-sensitive nature of their disease.

Project Lead(s): Antonija Burcul, Frank DeFalco, Jill Hardin

Coordinating Institution(s):

Additional Participants: Dr. med. Ivette Engel-Bicik, Switzerland, Dr. med. Maria Tulpan, USA, Dr. med. Kent Holfort, USA

Full Protocol: Word doc for the protocol

Initial Proposal Date: Sep 2016

Launch Date: 16 Jan 2017

Study Closure Date:

Results Submission: <method of sumission, Email>