The Prevalence of Single and Multiple Thyroid Nodules and Its Association with Metabolic Diseases in Chinese: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Purpose. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of single and multiple thyroid nodules and its association with metabolic diseases in subjects who participated in the heath examination in China. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study. The participants who attend the physical examination at the Health Management Center of Southwest Hospital, Army Military Medical University, between January 2014 and December 2018, were included. Thyroid nodules were diagnosed by thyroid ultrasound. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the association between metabolic diseases and nodular thyroid disease. Results. A total of 9,146 subjects were included in this study; of them, 2,961 were diagnosed with thyroid nodules, with a prevalence of 32.4%. The prevalence in women was significantly higher than that in men (45.2% vs 26.0%; χ2 = 339.56, P<0.001), and the prevalence was gradually increased with age (Z = 20.05, P<0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that advanced age, female gender, and diabetes mellitus were positively associated with thyroid nodule in the general population. Additionally, the female gender, advanced age, and high LDL-C concentration were positively associated with high risk of multiple thyroid nodules, compared with patients of single thyroid nodule. Males and females showed heterogeneous associations with single and multiple thyroid nodule risk. Conclusions. The prevalence of thyroid nodules was relatively high. Age, female gender, and diabetes are positively associated with nodular thyroid disease. High LDL cholesterolemia is more likely to be associated with multiple thyroid sarcoidosis.