I have been treating subclinical and functional hypothyroidism in clients for over 10 years, and I often get ask what is the benefit? Most of the time I mention the obvious, of increased energy, better circulation, improved intestinal motility, reduced water retention and increased metabolism. I have never included a reduced risk of death in these discussions … as for most, the objective hypothyroidism they suffer from is low grade and I am not one to be dramatic.
Interestingly, the following article outlines the risk of all cause mortality in low grade hypothyroidism is greater than 2 times in younger patient groups and up to 3.5 times greater in patients 65 years of age or older. Quite shocking!
In functional assessment of the thyroid, unlike what is discussed in this observational study where only Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) was used, clients should make sure to have their T3, T4, and Reverse T3 tested as well.
Functional hypothyroidism or subclinical hypothyroidism can result from a multitude of causes which may relate to the increased risks of mortality observed in this trial, including but not limited to excessive emotional or physiological stress, nutritional deficiencies, toxic overload and auto-immune disease.
Moon S, Kong SH, Choi HS, et al. Relation of Subclinical Hypothyroidism is Associated With Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality in Adults With High Cardiovascular Risk. Am J Cardiol. 2018 May 16. pii: S0002-9149(18)31118-4. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2018.03.371. (Original) PMID: 29980273
The aim of this study was to determine the association between subclinical hypothyroidism and cardiovascular (CVD) events, and mortality using the atherosclerotic CVD risk score. We carried out an observational study in a prospective cohort that was followed up for 12years. The study included 3,021 participants aged = 40years at baseline from the Ansung cohort, part of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study. Cox regression models were constructed to evaluate the hazards ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for all-cause mortality and CVD events in groups classified according to thyroid status. Subgroup analysis was performed with a cut-off age of 65years or 7.5% of the 10-year atherosclerotic CVD risk score. The subclinical hypothyroidism group in the highest quartile of thyroid-stimulating hormone (>6.57 mIU/L) had a significantly increased risk of all-cause mortality (HR 2.12, 95% CI 1.27 to 3.56) and CVD events (HR 1.92, 95% CI 1.21 to 3.04) compared with euthyroid participants. Subgroup analysis by CVD risk revealed that participants with high CVD risk only had a high risk of all-cause mortality (HR 2.18, 95% CI 1.22 to 3.87) and CVD events (HR 2.42, 95% CI 1.35 to 4.33). Further analysis showed that participants aged <65years with high CVD risk had the highest risk of all-cause mortality (HR 3.50, 95% CI 1.50 to 8.16) and CVD events (HR 3.37, 95% CI 1.46 to 9.57). Our results demonstrated that high thyroid-stimulating hormone levels were associated with a greater risk of mortality and new CVD risks, particularly among subjects with high CVD risk.