Who Gets Graves Disease & Why?
Perhaps 10 to 15 percent of people in the United States have an immune system which is vulnerable to autoimmune disease — that is, to having the body’s own system of protection against infection turn against some part of the body itself. In Graves’ disease, cells of the immune system attack thyroid cells, stimulating them to make too much thyroid hormone. Graves’ disease is not the most common of thyroid diseases, but because of its involvement with heart and eye problems, it can be one of the most serious. Both President and Mrs. Bush developed Graves’ disease while in the White House. It can occur at any age, and is 4 to 8 times more common in women than men. It affects perhaps 0.32 percent of men in the US and 3.2 percent of women. It is not known exactly what sets the disease process going. Sometimes a severe physical or emotional stress, loss of a job, death of a loved one, comes before the development of Graves’ disease. Occasionally a young mother may experience Graves’ disease
