Spectrum and Prevalence of Thyroid Diseases at a Tertiary Referral Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia: A Retrospective Study of 976 Cases

Abstract

Background. Thyroid disorder is one of the most common noncommunicable diseases worldwide and neglected public health issues in Somalia. The aim of the study thus was to investigate the thyroid disorders in patients attending to the largest tertiary referral hospital in Somalia. Methods. This retrospective study was conducted on patients admitted to the internal department of Somalia Mogadishu-Turkey Education and Research Hospital, Somali, between January 2017 and December 2019. Patients who were tested for thyroid function tests and had complete data were included. Patients with incomplete data and currently treated for any thyroid disorder were excluded from the study. Abstracted data including patients’ sociodemographic characteristics, thyroid function tests, and histopathological findings were retrieved from the hospital database system. Results. A total of 976 patients with thyroid disorders were enrolled, of whom 66.6% (n = 650) were female and 33.4% (n = 326) were male. The mean age of the patients was 47 ± 18.5 years. The majority of the patients were reported in the 31–50 (35.9%) age range. The most reported thyroid function disorders were 58.8% euthyroid sick syndrome followed by 15.4% hypothyroidism, 12.5% subclinical hypothyroidism, 7.6% hyperthyroidism, and 5.7% subclinical hyperthyroidism. The distribution of comorbidity indicated that 13.4% had diabetes mellitus, 10.4% had HIV, 4.9% had malaria, and 4.5% had HIV and malaria coinfection. Thyroid malignancies were detached in 22 (2.2%) patients including eleven papillary thyroid cancer, nine patients had follicular thyroid cancer, and two patients had differentiated thyroid cancer. Conclusions. Euthyroid sick syndrome was the most common type of thyroid disease in our setup. Hypothyroidism is the second most common, followed by subclinical hypothyroidism. Papillary thyroid cancer was the predominant histology among thyroid malignancies, followed by follicular thyroid cancer. This study revealed that thyroid diseases emerge as an important endocrine disorder encountered in Somali, necessitating a major public health response.

Prevalence and Determinants of Hypothyroidism in Patients on Routine Hemodialysis in Somalia: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Hassan-Kadle and colleagues studied 976 patients from Somalia in 2021 to identify the prevalence of thyroid disease in a tertiary hospital. They found that the prevalence rates of primary hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism were 12.5% and 7.6%, respectively (15). Another study from Somalia regarding the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction among heart failure patients in 2022 which included 250 patients reported that overt hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism rated in 25.6% and 33.3%, respectively (16).…”

Prevalence of Thyroid Dysfunction Among Patients with Heart Failure at a Tertiary Hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia

“…Thyroid function tests were measured by a Roche e411 Immunoassay Analyzer (Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Indianapolis, IN). 11 The epidemiological and clinical importance of OA and CA in patients with heart failure with mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF, defined as LVEF between 40 and 49%) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF, defined as LVEF between 40 and 49%) (HFpEF, defined as LVEF greater than 50%. 12 , 13 The data was collected using Microsoft excel and was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 26.…”

Thyroid Diseases and Thyroid Asymptomatic Dysfunction in People Living With HIV

“…Among them, 90 patients (9.2%) were seropositive (47 have HIV and 43 have HIV + malaria). Out of 90 seropositive patients, 57 (63.3%) have SES, while among seronegative patients the prevalence of SES was 58% (514/886) [ 49 ].…”

“…Precisely, 17 out of 200 patients (8.5%) were diagnosed with thyroid neoplasia while 38 (19%) had lung cancer [ 33 ]. Papillary thyroid cancer is the most common type of thyroid tumor (82%) in the adult and the pediatric population both in PLWH and in the general population, followed by follicular (7%) carcinoma, medullary thyroid tumor (3%) and anaplastic tumor (1%) [ 49 , 88 , 89 , 91 ]. In the study of Properzi et al, out of 11 PLWH with thyroid cancer, medullary thyroid cancer occurs in 2 patients (18.18%) [ 12 ].…”