20.500.12556/DiRROS-29219 Occurrence of clinically relevant thyroid nodules in adults Background: We aimed to comprehensively investigate the occurrence of thyroid nodules in a nationally representative population as well as in women of reproductive age from a geographic area with adequate iodine intake over the last two decades. Patients and methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included 653 adult participants from three groups: a nationally representative gender-mixed group (205 participants) and women of reproductive age, including non-pregnant (306 participants) and pregnant (142 participants) women. For each participant, demographic data were collected, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were measured, thyroid volume was estimated, and the presence and size of thyroid nodules were recorded with high-resolution ultrasound. The ultrasound characteristics were analysed. Results: Among the nationally representative participants, nodules were detected in 44.9%, with 39.0% larger than 5 mm and 13.7% larger than 0.5 mL. Among women of reproductive age, nodules were detected in 22.5%, with 14.1% larger than 5 mm and only 2.0% greater than 0.5 mL. The prevalence and size of nodules increased significantly with age in all groups, being significantly lower in non-pregnant women than in pregnant women, who were also older. In non-pregnant women of reproductive age, the number of nodules increased significantly after the age of 25, with the number of nodules larger than 5 mm increasing only after the age of 40. Conclusions: Thyroid nodules are prevalent in the population, but are rarely clinically significant. Therefore, screening for thyroid nodules in asymptomatic individuals with normal thyroid findings on clinical examination should be avoided. pregnancy reproductive period thyroid nodule nosečnost reproduktivna doba ščitnični nodus true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2026-04-24 14:55:19 2026-04-24 14:55:19 2026-04-25 03:53:43 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 9. 2. 2026; str. 97-105 no. 1 Vol. 60 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 61 1581-3207 10.2478/raon-2026-0001 267778563 RAZ_Zaletel_Katja_2026.pdf RAZ_Zaletel_Katja_2026.pdf 1 AD3864CB517594AE17B3609FC99AEDB9 b54ffcba7de80949bc6c8591e37bec651aa78a893928b8971e0101c07d62a420 f3b87e83-3fdc-11f1-ad5f-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=43705 https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/raon-2026-0001 1 dbcb1498-3fdc-11f1-ad5f-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=43704 Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana 0 0 0