Lipid profil and bady mass indeks changes in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism: evaluation of l-thyroxine treatment

Objectives: Subclinical hypothyroidism is defined as a mild elevation in serum thyroid stimulating hormone ( TSH ) level while serum free T4 ( FT4 ) and free T3 ( FT3 ) levels are in reference range. Main problem with these patients is whether they will receive therapy or not. In many studies, positive effects of levothyroxine treatment on serum lipid levels and cardiac functions are shown. In this prospective clinical study, we aimed to evaluate the metabolic changes in the newly diagnosed subclinical hypothyroidism patients who were administred thyroxine.Material and Methods: Sixty-three newly diagnosed patients with subclinical hypothyroidism were included in the study group. Randomly chosen 36 patients receiving therapy constituted the study group while the remaining 27 patients formed the control group and followed without any treatment. Patients were questioned for symptoms and examined thoroughly at the beginning of the study and at the end of thrird month. Thyroid function tests, lipid parameters and bady mass index of the patients were determined both at the beginning and end of the study.Results: There were 32 ( 88.8% ) female, 4 ( 11.2% ) male patients; mean values of age and BMI were 44.66±13.34 years and 29.96±5.99 kg/m², respectively the control group had 23 (85.2%) female, 4 ( 14.8% ) male patients; Their mean values of age and BMI were 42.51±11.66 years and 30.68±5.61 kg/m², respectively.Mean TSH levels and mean fT3 levels were significantly decreased in the third month with respect to the beginning in patients receiving treatment when compared to the control group. In the beginning mean levels of serum LDL cholesterol were 127.55±44.69 mg/dl, and 112.37±30.43 mg/dl in the study and control groups. Mean LDL cholesterol level showed a significant increase in the control group during three months ( p=0.041 ).Conclusions: In this study, we found that the symptoms of clinical hypothyroidism mostly existed in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism, and clinical and metabolic parameters improved with levothyroxine therapy.Key Words: Subclinical hypothyroidism, symptoms, lipoprotein