ArticleThyroid research2023
Severity of hypothyroidism is inversely associated with impaired quality of life in patients referred to an endocrine clinic.
Article in Thyroid research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- LT4/LT3 Combination Therapy vs. Monotherapy with LT4 for Persistent Symptoms of Hypothyroidism: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Investigating the relationship between thyroid replacement therapy goals status and quality of life in patients with primary hypothyroidism.Endocrine · 2026Article
- Psychometric properties of the thyroid-specific quality of life questionnaire ThyPRO-39 in patients with hypothyroidism.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2026Article
- Glutathione Peroxidase and Selenoprotein P Evaluation in Well-Being Assessment After Total Thyroidectomy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Use of thyroid hormones in euthyroid patients with unexplained fatigue: analyses of aggregate data from European national surveys of professional endocrine society members.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Article
- Evaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Euthyroid Hashimoto's Thyroiditis under Long-Term Levothyroxine Therapy: A Prospective Case-Control Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeWe investigated the association between health-related quality of life (HRQL) and the severity of hypothyroidism at diagnosis in patients referred to a secondary hospital clinic.
methodsSixty-seven adult patients referred from primary care were enrolled. All patients had newly diagnosed hypothyroidism due to autoimmune thyroiditis and were treated with levothyroxine (LT4). The dose was adjusted according to thyroid function tests aiming at a normal plasma thyrotropin. Patients were stratified according to the severity of hypothyroidism in two different ways: the conventional approach (subclinical or overt hypothyroidism) and a novel approach according to the change (decrease or increase) in plasma level of free triiodothyronine index (FT3I) following LT4 treatment. The ThyPRO-39 questionnaire was used for measurement of HRQL at referral to the Endocrine Outpatient Clinic (higher score corresponds to worse HRQL).
resultsFree thyroxine index (FT4I) at diagnosis correlated positively with the scores on the Hypothyroid Symptoms and Tiredness scales (p = 0.018 for both). In accordance, patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (n = 36) scored higher on Hypothyroid Symptoms (p = 0.029) than patients with overt hypothyroidism (n = 31). The difference in HRQL was more pronounced if patients were stratified according to the dynamics in FT3I following LT4 treatment. Thus, patients who showed a decrease in FT3I following treatment (n = 24) scored significantly worse for Anxiety (p = 0.032) and Emotional Susceptibility (p = 0.035) than patients with an increase in FT3I (n = 43).
conclusionPatients referred to an endocrine clinic with mild hypothyroidism had an impaired HRQL, compared to patients with more severe hypothyroidism. The most likely explanation of this finding is a lower threshold for seeking medical consultation and secondary care referral if HRQL is deteriorated. The dynamics in plasma FT3I following treatment may be more sensitive for such a discrimination in HRQL than a stratification according to the thyroid function tests at diagnosis.
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