The Health and Productivity Impact of Thyroid Diseases Among Working-Age Women in Western Europe.

BACKGROUND: Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are common but clinically distinct disorders that can impair work through fatigue, cognitive slowing, mood symptoms, weakness, palpitations, and heat intolerance. We quantified the health and formal-labor-market productivity burden of the combined Global Burden of Disease (GBD) thyroid-diseases category among working-age women in Western Europe. METHODS: Historical epidemiological estimates for women aged 20-64 years in 24 Western European countries were obtained from GBD 2023 for 1990-2023. Joinpoint regression and locally weighted smoothing characterized temporal and sociodemographic patterns. A Bayesian age-period-cohort model based on the 1990-2023 series projected years lived with disability and years of life lost for 2024-2029; the 2023 estimate was retained as the baseline. Projected health loss was translated into productivity-adjusted life-years and discounted gross domestic product losses using a Bayesian productivity-adjusted life-year framework. RESULTS: In 2023, the age-standardized disability-adjusted life-year rate ranged from 56.26 per 100,000 women in Spain (95% uncertainty interval, 29.22-96.78) to 107.71 in Norway (55.61-187.94). The regional rate changed little during 1990-2023 (average annual percent change, -0.06%) but followed six distinct temporal segments. Annual years lived with disability were projected to decline from 108.07 thousand (95% credible interval, 107.18-108.96) in 2023 to 102.55 thousand (90.44-114.66) in 2029, whereas years of life lost were projected to increase from 5.40 thousand (5.21-5.59) to 6.13 thousand (3.68-8.58). Across 2023-2029, cumulative productivity loss was 127.48 thousand productivity-adjusted life-years (112.70-142.26), equivalent to Int$8.23 billion in discounted gross domestic product (7.27-9.18). CONCLUSION: The combined noncancer thyroid-diseases category produces a persistent disability-dominated burden and substantial estimated losses in formal-market productivity among working-age women in Western Europe. The estimates should not be interpreted as subtype-specific or as including unpaid, caregiving, informal-sector, or thyroid-cancer-related losses.