Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Hypothyroidism is common and predominantly managed in primary care. Symptoms are non-specific, with thyroid function tests (TFT) required for diagnosis. We sought to investigate current practice in levothyroxine prescribing in primary care.Methods: We studied the initiation of levothyroxine using the General Practice Research Database (GPRD), the world’s largest database of anonymised medical records. Individuals with i) thyroid cancer ii...

Background: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) allow us to study effects of genetic variation on thyroid hormone levels. Phosphodiesterase 8B (PDE8B) is a protein responsible for cAMP generation, found in thyroid and brain tissue, but not normal pituitary tissue. Variation at this locus has been reported to influence TSH levels, but its effect on T3 and T4 had not been studied in the general population. Deiodinase 1 (DIO1) is known to influence T...

Introduction: It is standard teaching that thyroid function is associated with mood, in particular hypothyroidism with depression. Recent studies however have provided conflicting data, with community based studies suggesting no relationship, but a study in patients on thyroxine showing an association. There may be biases involved in these studies as in communities with good health care, symptomatic people with mildly abnormal thyroid function are often put on thyroxine and ex...

Background: Sporadic and familial autosomal dominant non-autoimmune hyperthyroidism (S/FANH) is caused by activating germline mutations in the TSH Receptor (TSHR) gene. These patients lack TSHR-Ab, show diffuse uptake on radionuclide thyroid scan and often lack positive family history due to variable penetrance. Because of these overlapping features, S/FANH is difficult to distinguished from Graves’ disease without autoimmune features. Ther...

Background: Sporadic and familial autosomal dominant non-autoimmune hyperthyroidism (S/FANH) is caused by activating germline mutations in the TSH Receptor (TSHR) gene. These patients lack TSHR-Ab, show diffuse uptake on radionuclide thyroid scan and often lack positive family history due to variable penetrance. Because of these overlapping features, S/FANH is difficult to distinguished from Graves’ disease without autoimmune features. Ther...

Importance: Thyroid hormone is essential for cognitive development. The Thr92Ala substitution in deiodonase-2 appears to reduce intracellular availability of active thyroid hormone. Individuals with low-normal serum thyroid hormone levels and this substitution might have insufficient intracellular thyroid hormone for optimal cognitive development.Objective: To explore whether individuals with low thyroid hormone bioavailability – free thyroxine in t...