Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2012) 29 P333

ICEECE2012 Poster Presentations Cardiovascular Endocrinology and Lipid Metabolism (74 abstracts)

The effect of thyroxine replacement on reduction of small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) in patients with primary hypothyroidism.

J. Saito , T. Watanabe , Y. Matsuzawa , M. Omura & T. Nishikawa


1Yokohama Rosai Hospital, Yokohama, Japan.


Background: Dyslipidemia is a well-known manifestation of thyroid dysfunction and there is evidence of an association between hypothyroidism and coronary heart disease. Recently, small dense low-density lipoprotein (sdLDL) has been linked with development of cardiovascular disease. But relations between thyroid function and sdLDL remain incompletely understood.

Objective: Our objective was to determine whether replacement therapy with thyroxine for patients with hypothyroidism is associated with improvement of lipid profiles including sdLDL.

Design: We conducted a prospective clinical study. Nine patients with primary hypothyroidism were enrolled in this study and treated by replacement with thyroxine. Lipid profiles, sdLDL, TSH, thyroid hormone were measured in pre- and post-treatment blood samples.

Results: Seven patients (3 males and 4 females with Hashimoto’s disease) of the patients completed this study and mean duration of treatment that normalized TSH was 126 days (85–153 days). The pre-/post-treatment TSH, free T4 (fT4), LDL cholesterol (LDL), sdLDL and sdLDL/LDL ratio were 181.0±219.2/7.3±7.5 μIU/ml, 0.4±0.2/1.3±0.3 ng/dl, 160.7±61.1/121.8±25.6 mg/dl, 26.1±16.8/14.7±4.7 mg/dl, 0.157±0.047/0.138±0.043, respectively. TSH and sdLDL were significantly decreased and fT4 was significantly increased after treatment.

Conclusion: The present study demonstrated a reduction of sdLDL levels of patients with hypothyroidism after treatment associated with an increase in thyroid hormone, which may contribute to some cardiovascular alterations. Even though we found a reduction in sdLDL levels after treatment, the mechanism of this effect was still not well understood.

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.

Volume 29

15th International & 14th European Congress of Endocrinology

European Society of Endocrinology 

Browse other volumes

Article tools

My recent searches

No recent searches.