Transient periods of thyrotoxicosis (over-activity of the thyroid) sometimes occur, and rarely the illness may progress to full hyperthyroid Graves disease with active orbitopathy (bulging, inflamed eyes). Rare cases of fibrous autoimmune thyroiditis present with severe shortness of breath and difficulty swallowing, resembling aggressive thyroid tumors, but such symptoms always improve with surgery or corticosteroid therapy. Although primary thyroid B-cell lymphoma affects fewer than one in 1000 persons, it is more likely to affect those with long-standing autoimmune thyroiditis, as there is a 67 to 80 fold increased risk of developing primary thyroid lymphoma in patients of Hashimotos thyroiditis. Epidemiology
Hashimotos thyroiditis disorder is thought to be the most common cause of primary hypothyroidism in North America. Within person, place, and time descriptive trends of epidemiology, it becomes more clear on how Hashimotos thyroiditis develops in and impacts differing populations. Personal characteristic trends
Overall, Hashimotos thyroiditis affects up to 2% of the general population. About 5% of Caucasians will develop Hashimotos at some point in their lives. In the US, the African-American population experiences it less commonly but has greater associated mortality. It is also less frequent in  Asian populations. About 1.0 to 1.5 in 1000 people have this disease at any time. It occurs between 8 and 15 times more often in women than in men. Some research suggests a connection to the role of the placenta as an explanation for the sex difference.
It was not until 1931 that the disease was recognized as a disease in its own right when researchers Allen Graham et al from Cleveland reported its symptoms and presentation in the same detailed manner as Hakaru.In 1956, Drs. Rose and Witebsky were able to demonstrate how immunization of certain rodents with extracts of other rodents thyroid resembled the disease Hakaru and other researchers were trying to describe. These doctors were also able to describe anti-thyroglobulin antibodies in blood serum samples from these same animals.Later on in the same year, researches from the Middlesex Hospital in London were able to perform human experiments on patients who presented with similar symptoms. They purified anti-thyroglobulin antibody from their serum and were able to conclude that these sick patients have an immunological reaction to human thyroglobulin. From this data, it was proposed that Hashimotos struma could be an autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland. In 1957, it was recognized as an autoimmune disorder and was the first organ-specific autoimmune disorder identified.Following this recognition, the same researchers from Middlesex Hospital published an article in 1962 in Lancet which ended up including a portrait of Hakaru Hashimoto. The disease was able to become so much more well known from that moment and Hashimotos disease became to appear more frequently in textbooks.Since those discoveries, a number of autoimmune diseases have been able to be discovered with several of them having to do with thyroid-specific antibodies.