Lipid Profiles in the Untreated Patients with Hashimoto Thyroiditis and the Effects of Thyroxine Treatment on Subclinical Hypothyroidism with Hashimoto Thyroiditis

Abstract

To evaluate the prevalence of dyslipidemia in the population of Hashimoto thyroiditis, we reviewed medical records on the consecutive 1181 cases with adult Hashimoto thyroiditis and 830 cases were adopted for the study. First, the serum TSH level increased and serum free T4 level decreased, slightly but significantly, with increasing age. There were significant positive correlations between serum TSH levels and lipid parameters such as total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), non-HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C ratio (L/H). In contrast, there were significant negative correlations between serum free T4 levels and all of these lipid parameters. According to the thyroid function, the cases were classified into 4 groups such as thyrotoxicosis (TT), euthyroidism (EU), subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) and overt hypothyroidism (OH). TC, HDL-C, non-HDL-C and LDL-C of TT were significantly lower than those in EU. In contrast, TC, TG, non-HDL-C, LDL-C, L/H and age of OH were significantly higher than those in EU. Interestingly, LDL-C and L/H of SH were significantly higher compared with EU. Thirty-two of SH patients were treated with small doses of levothyroxine and the effects on the lipid profile were examined. The TC, non-HDL-C, LDL-C and L/H were significantly decreased after treatment. In conclusion, the prevalence of dyslipidemia increases along with hypofunction of the thyroid and T4 replacement therapy may improve lipid profile in the cases of SH with Hashimoto thyroiditis.