In a recent study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers reported that subclinical hypothyroidism is highly prevalent in elderly women and is strongly and independently associated with cardiac atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction.
Dr. C. M. Witteman and colleagues of Erasmus University Medical School in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, conducted the research. They collected information on thyroid status, atherosclerosis and history of myocardial infarction from 1,149 postmenopausal women. They found that 10.8% of them had subclinical hypothyroidism. Subclinical hypothyroidism is defined by blood levels of thyroid stimulating hormone level of more than 4.0 mU/L and of free thyroxine (T4) level between 0.9-1.9 mg/dL. The term subclinical indicates that these women probably did not suffer from symptoms of hypothyroidism.
The study identified subclinical hypothyroidism as a major risk factor for heart disease in postmenopausal women. Dr. Witteman and his co-authors suggest that further study is needed and that routine thyroid screening for postmenopausal women may be prudent.
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aortic atherosclerosis
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Mediconsult.com, Heart Disease
Subclinical Hypothyroidism May Be Major Risk Factor For CVD in Postmenopausal Women
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