Thyroid disease: Why women are affected much more often than men. About a third of adults in Germany will develop at least one form of thyroid disease during their lifetime.
Around 20 million people in Germany have an enlarged or nodular thyroid. Eight to ten million are affected by Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Hyperthyroidism due to the autoimmune disease Graves' disease affects fewer people. In women, the double X chromosome is one cause. “The man’s Y chromosome doesn’t seem to play a role,” the Ärzte Zeitung online quotes the internal medicine specialist as saying.