Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The correlation between lipid profile changes & overt hypothyroidism is well established. Overt hypothyroidism is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) as indicated by hypertension, elevated lipids levels, hypercholesterolemia, and particularly increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. However, lipid profile alterations in primary and subclinical hypothyroidism are controversial. There are hardly any studies from this region that intensify the association of lipids with thyroid hormones. Hence this study aims to determine the pattern of lipid profile abnormalities in patients with primary and subclinical hypothyroidism.

Methods: Forty patients (6 of primary hypothyroidism and 34 of subclinical hypothyroidism), diagnosed in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry (ELISA, Lab Life ELISA 2007, RFCL, India) were subjected for lipid profile testing (Erba Chem 5 Plus, Germany) from August to October 2010 at Dhulikhel Hospital-Kathmandu University Hospital, Nepal. The results of this prospective study were statistically analyzed by SPSS 14.0.

Results: Majority of the patients were female (90%) of the age 11 to 66 years (38.625±13.93). Of all 40 patients enrolled, 35% (14) had mean serum cholesterol >200 mg/dl, 30% (12) had LDL-C >150 mg/dl, 17.5% (7) had triacylglycerol (TAG) >150 mg% and 42.5% (17) had HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) <40 mg/dl. The evidences for primary and subclinical hypothyroidism showed a strong correlation between elevated TSH and total cholesterol, HDL-C, TAG (r=0.388, P<0.05). However, there is a weak correlation between TSH and LDL-C (r=0.201, P<0.214).

Conclusion: Total cholesterol, TAG and HDL-C showed statistically significant higher values. This association of two separate states of disorders might be helpful in the treatment and management of hypothyroidism.

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