The Health and Productivity Impact of Thyroid Diseases Among Working-Age Women in Western Europe.

BACKGROUND

Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are common but clinically distinct disorders that can impair work through fatigue, cognitive slowing, mood symptoms, weakness, palpitations, and heat intolerance. We quantified the health and formal-labor-market productivity burden of the combined Global Burden of Disease (GBD) thyroid-diseases category among working-age women in Western Europe.

METHODS

Historical epidemiological estimates for women aged 20-64 years in 24 Western European countries were obtained from GBD 2023 for 1990-2023. Joinpoint regression and locally weighted smoothing characterized temporal and sociodemographic patterns. A Bayesian age-period-cohort model based on the 1990-2023 series projected years lived with disability and years of life lost for 2024-2029; the 2023 estimate was retained as the baseline. Projected health loss was translated into productivity-adjusted life-years and discounted gross domestic product losses using a Bayesian productivity-adjusted life-year framework.

RESULTS

In 2023, the age-standardized disability-adjusted life-year rate ranged from 56.26 per 100,000 women in Spain (95% uncertainty interval, 29.22-96.78) to 107.71 in Norway (55.61-187.94). The regional rate changed little during 1990-2023 (average annual percent change, -0.06%) but followed six distinct temporal segments. Annual years lived with disability were projected to decline from 108.07 thousand (95% credible interval, 107.18-108.96) in 2023 to 102.55 thousand (90.44-114.66) in 2029, whereas years of life lost were projected to increase from 5.40 thousand (5.21-5.59) to 6.13 thousand (3.68-8.58). Across 2023-2029, cumulative productivity loss was 127.48 thousand productivity-adjusted life-years (112.70-142.26), equivalent to Int$8.23 billion in discounted gross domestic product (7.27-9.18).

CONCLUSION

The combined noncancer thyroid-diseases category produces a persistent disability-dominated burden and substantial estimated losses in formal-market productivity among working-age women in Western Europe. The estimates should not be interpreted as subtype-specific or as including unpaid, caregiving, informal-sector, or thyroid-cancer-related losses.