Endocrine Abstracts

Background: One in 10–30 women in general population has Hashimoto’s (chronic) thyroiditis. Development of thyroid dysfunction depends on age. The ratio of woman around 50 with TSH elevation is 10% in general population. Menopause occurs at this age for most women. Many symptoms of hypothyroid state are similar to symptoms of menopause except hot flashes and night sweats. We analyzed the relationship of Hashimoto’s disease and menopausal symptoms.

Methods: Subjects are 271 women, new patients range 17–79 years of age (mean: 48.7 years old) at our clinic between January and May, 2010. We performed questionnaires about their menstruation and menopausal symptoms, also measurement of serum F-T₃, F-T₄, TSH, antithyroglobulin antibodies and anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO) antibodies at the first visit. Subjects are assorted to four groups depending on menstrual condition. That is pre group (regular menstruation) is 35.7%, peri group (irregular menstruation before menopause) is 24.0%, post group (1–5 years after menopause) is 9.0%, post–post group (over 5 years after menopause) is 31.3%.

Results: Of the total, 28.8% of all subjects has antithyroid antibodies (antithyroglobrin antibodies 21.1%, anti-TPO antibodies 12.7%). The breakdown by groups is pre 20.6%, peri 23.1%, post 45.8%, post–post 37.6%. Hypothyroid state (TSH >4 μIU/ml) was observed 11.8% of all. The breakdown by groups is pre 9.9%, peri 22.6%, post 4.2%, post–post 7.1%. Seventy six per cent of all has menopausal symptoms.

Conclusions: Menopausal symptoms in Hashimoto’s disease women are characterized by that coldness and fatigability are significantly higher, on the other hand hot flashes, night sweats and irritability are significantly lower than women without Hashimoto’s disease. In this study, the frequency of hypothyroid in premeopausal women is higher than postmenopausal women among women with antithyroid antibodies. It is presumably that overt hypothyroid patients tend to visit clinics earlier than menopause.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.