[Diseases of the thyroid gland in men and women-Status quo and new research needs].

"Diseases of the thyroid gland occur more frequently in women": this statement has been used in textbooks for decades; however, is this equally true for all thyroid gland diseases and can conclusions be derived from this for a different disease relevance and prognosis in men and women? Is possibly even a sex-specific treatment needed? These questions are taken up and subsequently the epidemiological data and studies that have investigated the influence of gender on the course of thyroid gland diseases are taken into consideration. It is shown that the data situation is much more restricted than is to be expected for frequent diseases in the general population.