Thyroid volume and its correlation with thyroid function in Central India

Abstract

Objectives Due to its strong correlation with age, gender, anthropometric parameters, and geographic location, thyroid gland volume varies widely. Finding the reference range of a healthy individual’s normal thyroid gland volume has become crucial for every community. Thus, the public will be better able to grade goiter, and large-scale iodine monitoring initiatives will be guided by this. Ultrasound (US) eliminates the issues of overestimation of goiter prevalence and significant interobserver variability associated with palpation estimates, as it is more accurate than clinical examination in diagnosing enlarged thyroid glands. This research aimed to use ultrasonography to determine reference ranges for total thyroid volume in the normal adult population in central India and to connect the results with thyroid function tests. Material and Methods A tertiary-care hospital hosted a prospective cross-sectional study. There were 410 healthy subjects in total. B-Grey scale imaging US was utilized to assess the overall thyroid volume by adding the volume of both lobes, which was calculated using the ellipsoid formula. In order to examine thyroid function, blood samples were obtained. Age-appropriate thyroid volume reference values were found. Results The average thyroid gland volume across all research participants was 6.90 ± 1.74 ml. The gland volume of males was considerably greater (7.30 ± 1.86 ml) than that of females (6.63 ± 1.61 ml) (P<0.001). In both genders, the right lobe’s volume was considerably higher than the left lobe’s (3.76 ± 0.96 ml vs. 3.14 ± 0.89 ml, P < 0.001). There was no discernible relationship between thyroid function tests and gland volume. Conclusion We made an effort to help set the reference values for our community, but more extensive research is needed to set the thyroid gland volume reference values for the entire country.