Abstract

ABSTRACTWe report 408 cases of autonomously functioning thyroid nodule (AFTN); 85.5% occurred in female patients, for a male-female ratio of 1:6. Eighty-nine patients (21.8%) were hyperthyroid, 76 of then being female, also yielding a male-female ratio of 1:6. There was a linear increase in the incidence of hyperthyroidism with age and with an increase in the size of the nodule, especially for nodules more than 3 cm in diameter. There was a significantly higher incidence of hyperthyroidism for nodules of the same size when they occurred in patients more than 40 years of age. There was corresponding increase in hyperthyroidism with an increase in the length of time after the initial detection of the nodule; this finding was significantly greater in patients more than 40 years of age. Thus, the age of the patient was found to be a more important determinant in the production of hyperthyroidism associated with an AFTN than either the size of the nodule or the duration of symptoms.