Biomedical Research

Thyroid disease associated with abnormal lipid profile, which may lead to atherosclerosis. Although several observations indicate that serum Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels in the high normal range are related to Cardiovascular (CVD) risk factors in the general population. However, it remains to be elucidated that the association between thyroid hormones within the normal range and lipids in patients with type 2 diabetes. Thyroid hormones, TSH levels, antithyroid antibodies, anthropometric parameters, lipid profile, glucose and blood pressure were measured in 404 euthyroid new-onset type 2 diabetic subjects. Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used to assess the influence of thyroid function parameters on the lipid profiles. The result showed that Total Cholesterol (TC), Low Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (LDL-C), Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) and Apolipoprotein A1 (ApoA1) increased linearly with the elevation of TSH within the normal range. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated high normal TSH level was positively correlated with the TC, LDL-C, ApoA1 and ApoB, serum Free Thyroxine (FT4) level was negative correlated with TC, Triglyceride (TG) and ApoB. The change of thyroid function, even within reference range of thyroid function tests, high normal TSH and low FT4 might exert adverse effects on the lipid profile resulting in hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia, two well-known CVD risk factors.

Author(s): Chaolin Li, Huafeng Li, Lujie Zhao, Ruizhen Ren, Shulin Chen, Daping Wang
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