Members of a Canadian task force have “strongly” recommended against screening for thyroid dysfunction in asymptomatic non-pregnant adults, citing unlikely benefit and potential unnecessary treatment.

Members of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care considered evidence from systematic reviews on the benefits and harms of screening for asymptomatic thyroid dysfunction, treatment of asymptomatic thyroid dysfunction, and patient values and preferences.

They concluded: “The task force found no trial evidence on screening versus not screening asymptomatic non-pregnant adults for thyroid dysfunction.

“Low-certainty evidence suggests that treatment of screen-detected hypothyroidism among non-pregnant adults is unlikely to provide meaningful improvement on clinical outcomes reviewed by the task force,” the authors wrote in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.