“Study of association of serum lipid profile, IL-6, & ADMA levels with subclinical hypothyroidism”

Background & Objectives: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) represents the mildest form of thyroid hormone deficiency and may be associated with adverse consequences. SCH is defined as an elevated serum thyrotropin (often referred to as thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH) level with normal levels of free thyroxine (FT4) that affects up to 10% of the adult population. The identification of patients with subclinical hypothyroidism having an increased cardiovascular risk is of great importance in the present era. The aim of the study was to evaluate cardiovascular risk factors in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. Methods: 120 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism and 120 age and gender matched healthy euthyroid controls in the age group of 18-70 years were included in the study. Body mass index (BMI), lipid profile, and levels of serum biomarkers were estimated in both the groups and further compared using student t-test. Lipid profile was also correlated with the serum ADMA & IL-6 and the results were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: Patients with subclinical hypothyroidism had significantly higher levels of serum TSH, IL-6 and ADMA. Similarly, serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly increased and HDL-C was significantly decreased in SCH patients when compared to the same parameters of controls (p<0.001). Significant positive correlations were found among lipid profile and serum IL-6 & ADMA. Conclusions: The present study concluded that the SCH patients presented increased concentrations of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors viz. IL-6, ADMA & lipid profile. The potential benefits of diagnosis and treatment of subclinical hypothyroidism may have possible advantages firstly by preventing the progression to overt hypothyroidism and secondly decrease the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by starting appropriate therapy to improve lipid parameters.