Hyperthyroidism Patients More Likely to Take Sick Leave for Extended Periods

New research found that people with hyperthyroidism are more likely to take sick leave for longer periods compared to their healthy counterparts.

When the thyroid gland gets overactive, a person suffers from hyperthyroidism. Located in the neck, thyroid produces a hormone that controls how the body uses energy, consumes oxygen and produces heat. One of the most common causes of hyperthyroidism is Grave's disease, an autoimmune condition in which antibodies produced by the immune system attack the thyroid gland. This disease is usually accompanied by eye complications or swelling of the thyroid gland, called goiter.

"When we examined sick leave records, our research found patients with hyperthyroidism faced a significantly higher risk of missing work for three weeks or longer due to illness compared to healthy controls," said one of the study's authors, Mette Andersen Nexo from the University of Copenhagen. "People who experienced eye complications from Graves' disease were the most likely to require extended sick leave. This same population also was the most likely to leave the workforce altogether and retire on a disability pension."

In this study the researchers evaluated sick leaves as well as disability pension claims of 862 Danes who received treatment at one of the two university outpatient clinics in 2007 for a thyroid condition. The claim rates of this population were later compared to a group of controls that included 7,043 participants. 

In Denmark, people who miss work for over three weeks due to illness are compensated by the local municipalities. This made it easy for the researchers to track when the subjects missed work for an extended period due to illness.

The researchers noticed that patients with Graves disease accompanied by eye complication were seven times more likely than their healthy counterparts to have extended sick leave from work within a year of being diagnosed. 

This risk reduced in the subsequent years but remained twice as high as healthy subjects. And they were nearly four times likely to retire on disability pension.

People with hypothyroidism and without eye complications also had an elevated risk of taking extended sick leave and were twice more likely to miss work for weeks due to the illness.

"The findings demonstrate the potential socioeconomic effects thyroid conditions can have, but also indicate that socioeconomic effects diminish once the disorders are treated," Nexo said. "It's important not only for patients, but for employers and society as a whole, to ensure that people who have thyroid conditions receive the medical care they need."

The study was documented in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.