Thyroid Disease and Family History

Thyroid disease is often strongly represented in the family’s medical history. This article reviews the association between thyroid disease and family history.

Thyroid disease is generally referred to as a familial disease. We don’t usually call it a genetic disorder, because the exact genetic defects have not been clearly identified and we can’t perform tests on patients to see if they have a specific genetic abnormality that will translate into a thyroid disease.

A recent study from England found that approximately 50% of patients with Graves disease and Hashimoto’s disease have a family history of thyroid disease in a close relative. Patients with higher number of relatives with thyroid disease tend to develop their own thyroid diseases at an earlier age.

The type of thyroid problem that affects one member of a family is not always the thyroid condition that will affect other members of the family. We frequently see a mixture of thyroid problems in a given family that may include Hashimoto’s disease, Grave’s disease, thyroid nodules and even thyroid cancer.

Some forms of thyroid cancer are also familial, but the vast majority of thyroid cancers are not. Your thyroidologist can help to determine if your family is at risk for a familial form of thyroid cancer.

It is therefore important to discuss your thyroid condition with family members so they can undergo appropriate screening for thyroid problems they may not have recognize they had. If you have a very strong family history of thyroid disease with multiple close relatives being affected, it is advisable to screen children for thyroid disease.

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