Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Thyroid disorders are prevalent in western society, yet many subjects experience limited symptoms at diagnosis, especially in hypothyroidism.

Design: In order to compare the health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of subjects with suppressed TSH-levels (TSH<0.5 mU/l) or elevated TSH-levels (TSH>10 mU/l) to subjects with normal TSH-levels (TSH 0.5–4 mU/l), a cross-sectional study was performed within the Dutch adult population who participated in the LifeLines-cohort from December 2009 until August 2010. We measured thyroid hormone status (serum TSH, free T₄ and free T₃, Roche Modular) and HR-QOL (RAND-36 item Health Survey) in 9491 Caucasian participants, 3993 men and 5498 women (median age 45, range 18–88 years), without current or former use of thyroid medication.

Results: Suppressed TSH-levels (<0.5 mU/l) were found in 114 participants (1.2%), while 70 participants (0.7%) had TSH>10 mU/l. No relationship between increasing TSH-levels or reduced HR-QOL and ageing could be found. Men had a higher HR-QOL than women (P<0.001) except for the domain ‘general health’ (P=0.692). None of the domains of the RAND-36 was significantly reduced in men with suppressed or elevated TSH-levels (P>>0.05) compared to euthyroid men. Only the domains ‘physical functioning’ and ‘general health’ were significantly reduced in women with suppressed TSH-levels versus euthyroid women (P=0.013 and P=0.036 respectively). Women with TSH > 10 mU/l had similar HR-QOL compared to euthyroid women (P>>0.05). In both men and women no significant differences could be observed between HR-QOL and subjects with decreased, normal or elevated FT₄-levels (P>>0.05).

Conclusions: HR-QOL of subjects with suppressed TSH-levels or elevated TSH-levels is not significantly reduced compared to subjects with normal TSH-levels.