Who Is Likely To Develop Graves’ Disease?

Are you likely to develop Graves’ Disease?

Scientists don’t know exactly why some people develop Graves’ disease, but they believe factors such as age, sex, heredity, and emotional and environmental stress are involved.

Graves’ disease usually occurs in people younger than age 40 and is five to 10 times more common in women than men.  An individual’s chance of developing Graves’ disease increases if other family members have it.

Researchers have not been able to find a specific gene that causes the disease to be passed from one generation to the next.  Scientists know that some people inherit an immune system that can make antibodies against healthy cells, but predicting who will be affected is difficult.

People with other autoimmune diseases have an increased chance of developing Graves’ disease.  Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and vitiligo-a disorder in which some parts of the skin are pigmented-are among the conditions associated with Graves’ disease.

• February 3, 2010 -- How Is Graves’ Disease Treated?
  Graves' disease treatment options from the medical community Doctors prescribe one or more of the three treatment options:  radioiodine therapy, antithyroid drugs, or thyroid surgery.  Radioiodine therapy is the most commonly used treatment for Graves' disease in the United States. Radioiodine Therapy In radioiodine therapy, the patient takes radioactive iodine-131 by mouth.  Because the ...
• January 20, 2010 -- How Is Graves’s Disease Diagnosed?
  Graves' disease diagnosed Doctors can sometimes diagnose Graves' disease based only on a physical examination and a medical history.  Laboratory test confirm the diagnosis. The ultrasensitive TSH test is usually the first test a doctor performs.  This test detects even tiny amounts of TSH in the blood and is the most accurate measure of thyroid activity available.  Another blood test used to...