Status of Goitre or Thyroid Disorders in India

India has completed its transition from iodine deficiency to iodine replete status. It is believed that iodine supplementation can cause a spurt in autoimmune thyroid dysfunction and hypothyroidism, by making the thyroid gland more susceptible to damage by body’s own immune system. The prevalence of self-reported goitre or thyroid disorder in National Family Health Survey IV [NFHS IV (2015-2016)] was 2.2%, while it was 2.9% in NFHS-V (2019-2021).

The NFHS IV (2015-2016) has reported that amongst individuals between the age 15-49 years, the self-reported prevalence of goitre or thyroid disorder was nearly 2% in females and less than 1% in males. Also, the reported prevalence increased with age in women (15-19 years: 0.7%; 20-34 years: 1.8%; 35-49 years: 3.4%). As per NFHS V, the details of States/UTs wise cases reported are given below.

Goitre or Thyroid Disorders
STATE/UT	Number of Women per 100000
Kerala	8696
Jammu and Kashmir	6809
Delhi NCT	5926
Telangana	5763
West Bengal	5298
Andhra Pradesh	4551
Tamil Nadu	4076
Himachal Pradesh	3776
Tripura	3643
Punjab	3407
Manipur	2989
Haryana	2701
Assam	2642
Goa	2548
Uttarakhand	2411
Sikkim	2220
Maharashtra	2126
Odisha	2081
Meghalaya	1988
Karnataka	1969
Bihar	1705
Jharkhand	1697
Rajasthan	1310
Uttar Pradesh	1281
Gujarat	1151
Madhya Pradesh	1087
Mizoram	908
Chhattisgarh	903
Arunachal Pradesh	732
Nagaland	505

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As per the NFHS IV (2015-2016), amongst 6,99,686 women in their reproductive age groups (15-49 years), those in the highest quintile of wealth index had three to four-fold higher risk of having thyroid disorders. In addition, there was a graded increase in risk of having thyroid disorders from poorest to richest.

The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar stated this in a written reply in the RajyaSabha today.