ThyroChek® is essential for your health promotion events. It is a new test and a new approach to healthy living. A functioning thyroid gland is the foundation of good health and opens the door to general wellness.
Testing for hypothyroidism will offer real value and greater opportunities to educate on thyroid disease and its link to lifestyle limiting illnesses and life threatening diseases.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins concluded that for women especially, testing or screening for hypothyroidism is the first step in prevention of health issues that are life limiting and costly.
"By adding TSH screening test to total cholesterol tests, there is an opportunity to prevent the progression of mild hypothyroidism to overt hypothyroidism as well as the symptoms of thyroid failure."
--Journal of the American Medical Association July 1996, Cost-Effectiveness of Periodic Screening for Mild Thyroid Failure
Corporate screening programs focussed on productivity and abstenteeism will be excited about ThyroChek®. It is a natural companion to cholesterol screening.
27 million Americans have poor functioning thyroid glands and fewer than half are diagnosed:
- 8 out of 10 people with thyroid disease are women.
- Women are 5 to 8 times to suffer with hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid.
- 15 to 20 % of people with diabetes and their siblings or parents are likely to develop thyroid disease.
- 50% of thyroid disease patients' offspring will inherit thyroid disease.
- By age 60, 17% of women and 9% of men may be hypothyroid.
Thyroid function is an outer marker of good health. Elevated TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) greater than 5 mIU/L in blood is the first clinical indicator of hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is frequently associated with:
- Diabetes
- Arthritis
- Cardiac disease
- Depression
- Infertility
- Anemia
- Lupus, Celiac disease many other autoimmune
Women of child bearing age should be screened to prevent poor pregnancy outcome. Conditions such as unexplained weight gain, loss of libido, dry skin and hair as well as cracked and brittle nails are symptoms of hypothyroidism.
Disease prevention in the workplace encompasses a broad range of activities. ThyroChek® meets corporate wellness goals by providing on-site testing. Health issues from weight loss to stress reduction to depression that may be related to thyroid health effect productivity and absenteeism. Since employees can be screened at their workplace, immediate results allow health professionals to provide "the teaching moment" that can lead to behavior changes and healthier life styles.
Thyroid health is genetic. Many people need to know their level of risk and local organizations are uniquely positioned to provide this service. People are aware that heart disease and cancer may be genetically predisposed, but according to a national survey by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) in 2002, more than 76% of the population does not know that thyroid disease runs in families. There is a strong genetic link between thyroid disease and other autoimmune diseases including certain types of diabetes, anemia and arthritis. People who know their family health history take the first step to better health.
HMOs and community hospitals offer complete healthcare programs. Screening for hypothyroidism is an excellent technique to open a dialog on preventative care medicine.
ThyroChek® is an ideal tool for a number of departments within the hospital. It can be utilized in situations where immediate TSH status is required from patients that may be difficult to contain, or move or follow up such as mobile clinics, mother and baby clinics, geriatric units, veterans’ wards or psychiatric intake. ThyroChek can be used by marketing departments to promote their facility and provide physician referrals in areas of endocrine health.
- CLIA waived: any staff member can perform the test with confidence.
- Easy to use: one drop of blood from a finger stick.
- Rapid results: know in 10 minutes or less if TSH is greater than 5 mIU/L.
- Accurate: 97.7% precision versus lab results.
- Teaching Moment: adequate face to face time to deliver message.
- Bundle: ideal companion for BP, cholesterol, A1C or osteoporosis screens.
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