Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The thyroid hypofunction is at origin of lipid metabolism disorder that enhances cardiovascular risk and increases morbidity and mortality.

Objective: Search for lipid disorders in hypothyroidism comparing the results between the two sexes.

Population and Method: Retrospective study of 72 patients (54 F and 18 H), mean age of 55.63 years (53.66 F and 61.5 H) hospitalized between 1996 and 2012 for primary hypothyroidism. Only patients who underwent a metabolic evaluation were selected. All patients underwent a complete clinical examination, a thyroid function tests (hormonal and imaging) and metabolic exploration.

Results: Dyslipidemia was found in 77.4% of patients. It is more common in women: W (83.33%) vs M (57%) (P<0.01) regardless of its type. High cholesterol is the most common: 65.51% of cases: 69.5% W vs 50% M (P<0.01). Low HDL found in 52.63% of cases was noted only in women. Hypertriglyceridemia was the least frequent abnormality (35.7%) affecting 42.2% F vs 14.2% H (P <0.01). BMI and TSH means women were higher than men: 32.94±7.6 vs 25.72±3.44 kg/m² VS (P<0.01) and 100.6±1.2 vs 61.26±1.4 (P<0.01) for TSH.

Discussion: In agreement with the literature, lipid disorders are very common in hypothyroidism and its association with atherosclerosis is more severe than in the euthyroidism. The hypercholesterolemia is due to an increase in LDL receptor and a decrease in macrophage activity. In severe cases increased TG is secondary to decreased activity of lipoproteinelipase. This is a lipid atherogenic profile. It should be systematically sought and reassessed after opotherapy. The predominance of abnormalities in women can be explained by a higher BMI and TSH.