Thyroid Hormone Use in the United States, 1997–2016
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Thyroid disorders are among the most commonly treated conditions by the United States health care system. The number of patients reporting thyroid hormone use has increased in recent years, but it is unknown if there have been differential increases in the number of treated individuals within different demographic groups. Previous research has also not evaluated how expenditures for different thyroid hormone medications have changed in recent years. METHODS: Using data from the 1997 through 2016 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we calculated the proportion of adults reporting thyroid hormone prescriptions by 3 demographic variables (age, sex, and race) and determined expenditures from thyroid hormone prescriptions by medication type (overall, generic, Synthroid or Cytomel, and other brand). RESULTS: Between 1997 and 2016, the proportion of adults who reported thyroid hormone use increased from 4.1% (95% CI, 3.7-4.4) to 8.0% (95% CI, 7.5-8.5). Most of the growth in thyroid hormone use occurred among adults aged >65, and use was also more common among females and non-Hispanic whites. Expenditures from thyroid hormones increased from $1.1 billion (95% CI, 0.9-1.3) in 1997 to $3.2 billion dollars (95% CI, 2.9-3.6) in 2016. Generic thyroid hormone prescriptions comprised 18.1% of all thyroid hormone prescriptions in 2004 (95% CI, 15.8-20.4) and 80.8% of all thyroid hormone prescriptions (95% CI, 78.4-83.2) in 2016. CONCLUSIONS: Thyroid hormone use nearly doubled over the last 20 years, and increased use was associated with being older, female, and non-Hispanic white. During the same time period, thyroid hormone expenditures almost tripled.
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T4+T3 Combination Therapy: An Unsolved Problem of Increasing Magnitude and Complexity
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- Authors
- Johansen, M. E., Marcinek, J. P., & Doo Young Yun, J.
- Affiliations
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- ORCID
- Johansen, Michael E.
- Venue
- The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
- Published
- 2020-03
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 284-288
- ISSN
- 1557-2625 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-7118
- OpenAlex
- W3012128264
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 2.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Thyroid Disorders and Treatments
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy
- Keywords
- thyroid hormones, levothyroxine, thyroid dysfunction, prescription drug use, health care expenditure, demographic disparities, older adults, women, racial disparities, generic drugs, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Health Expenditures, Female, Humans, Drug Prescriptions, Thyroid Gland, Thyroid Hormones, United States, Drugs, Generic
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