Objective: To examine the prevalence of thyroid disease and dysfunction including thyroid autoimmunity in Norway. Materials and methods: All inhabitants 20 years and older (94 009) in Nord-Trùndelag were invited to participate in a health survey with a questionnaire and blood samples. Results: The prevalence of former diagnosed hyperthyroidism was 2.5% in females and 0.6% in males, hypothyroidism 4.8% and 0.9%, and goitre 2.9% and 0.4% respectively. In both sexes the prevalence increased with age. In individuals without a history of thyroid disease the median, 2.5 and 97.5 percentiles for TSH (mU/l) were 1.80 and 0.49±5.70 for females and 1.50 and 0.56±4.60 for males. The TSH values increased with age. When excluding individuals with positive thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) (> 200 U/ml), the 97.5 percentiles dropped to 3.60 mU/l and 3.40 mU/l respectively. The prevalence of pathological TSH values in females and males were TSH $10 mU/l 0.90% and 0.37%; TSH 4.1±9.9 mU/l 5.1% and 3.7%; and TSH # 0.05 mU/l 0.45% and 0.20% respectively. The prevalence of positive TPOAb (> 200U/ml) was 13.9% in females and 2.8% in males. In females the lowest percentage (7.9%) of positive TPOAb was seen with TSH 0.2± 1.9 mU/l and increased both with lower and higher levels of TSH. The percentage of males with positive TPOAb was lower than in females in all TSH groups except for those with TSH > 10 mU/l (85% TPOAb positive). Conclusions: In spite of a high prevalence of recognised thyroid disease in the population a considerable number of inhabitants have undiagnosed thyroid dysfunction and also positive TPOAb.

The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was investigated in a small, rural community located at the coast in Middle Norway. Two hundred persons (114 women and 86 men) of the total 802 persons over 70 Tunbridge W M G (1979): The epidemiology of hypo¬ thyroidism. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 8: 21 -27. Tunbridge W M G, Evered D C, Hall R et al. (1977): The spectrum of thyroid disease in a community: the Wickham survey. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 7: 481-493.

En av de mest markante skikkelsene i norsk allmennmedisin gjennom naer 40 år døde stille på St. Olavs hospital 20. november 2015. Det var ikke uventet, selv om noen hadde begynt å tro at han var udødelig. På tross av lang tids helseplager og kreftsykdom beholdt han den usedvanlige energien og smittende entusiasmen som preget hans liv. Da han ble tildelt Nidarosprisen for arbeidet med utviklingen av faget allmennmedisin, ble han introdusert som «lege, bonde, skraphandler og ildsjel». Han fikk også Løvetannsprisen, -Norsk selskap for allmennmedisins høyeste utmerkelse.Folk flest kjente Arne Ivar som «hainn laegen på Heimdal» der han drev sin mangfoldige legepraksis. Som pensjonist kjøpte hanseg gard for hester og andre dyr øverst i Folldal med legekontor i sokkelen. Han påtok seg legevikariater i Utkant-Norge og var lege for mineryddingspersonellet på Hjerkinn frem til sist sommer. Den tidligere majoren var også bystyremedlem og leder av Trondheim Høyre.