Plasma Lipid Concentrations and Blood Pressure in Women with Subclinical Hypothyroidism

Park, Kye Seon; Oh, Kuk Jin; Kang, Dong Jin; Park, Kyung Che; Kim, Moon Jong; Lee, Young Jin

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are conflicting reports on the effect of subclinical hypothyroidism on plasma lipid concentrations and blood pressure. This may be due to lack of consideration for menopause status or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in selecting the study subjects. Also, the reason may be that many subjects with transient abnormality were included in those studies. Therefore, we intended to include the subjects who satisfied the definition of subclinical hypothyroidism on repeated measures. Then, we investigated the difference of plasma lipid concentrations and blood pressure between subclinical hypothyroidism and normal control subjects.
METHODS
This study involved the women above age 18, who visited a health promotion center in a general hospital and measured their serum TSH and free T4, from January 1997 to May 2003. The number patients who satisfied the definition of subclinical hypothyroidism on repeated measures, and who had no history of thyroid disease, herb medication or HRT, diabetes, abnormalities of liver and renal function were 30. Age, menopause, body mass index-matched people of 65 were selected as normal controls. Serum TSH, free T4 and plasma lipid concentrations were measured by chemiluminescent assay and enzyme method, respectively. Dyslipidemia were defined according to NCEP ATPIII guidelines.
RESULTS
There was no significant difference of blood pressure and plasma lipid concentrations between subclinical hypothyroidism patients and normal controls irrespective of menopause. There was no significant difference of percentage of dyslipidemia and hypertension between the two groups.
CONCLUSION
There were no significant increase in plasma lipid concentrations and blood pressure in subclinical hypothyroidism patients despite more strict inclusion.