Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40375293›Full record

ArticleTrials2025

Efficacy and safety of levothyroxine monotherapy in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease in older adults with subclinical hypothyroidism: research protocols of a multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial.

Chong Xu, Hui Zhou, Xiaofan Lu, Shuhang Xu, Yu Sun

Abstract readClinical Trial Protocol
In one paragraph

Article in Trials, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Thyroid disease in ageing populations.Endocrine connections · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Chong Xu *Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The Affiliated Suqian Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Suqian, 223800, China.
Hui Zhou *Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The Affiliated Suqian Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Suqian, 223800, China.
Xiaofan LuDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The Affiliated Suqian Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Suqian, 223800, China.
Shuhang XuDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210028, China. shuhangxu@163.com.
Yu SunDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The Affiliated Suqian Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University, Suqian, 223800, China. sunyu@squ.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7636-8854

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThis multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial (RCT) aims to assess the efficacy and safety of levothyroxine monotherapy in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in untreated older adults with subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) who are diagnosed according to population-specific TSH reference values.

methodsA total of 254 patients with SCH who meet the diagnostic criteria will be recruited, and the baseline clinical data of the patients will be collected. Then, a total of 127 patients will be randomly divided into each of the treatment and control groups, and the treatment group will receive daily levothyroxine doses (Merck Euthyrox® levothyroxine 50 mcg tablet). Specifically, 50 µg of levothyroxine per day will be administered to patients in the treatment group (or 25 µg to patients with a body weight < 50 kg) for at least 48 weeks to maintain thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels within the normal range. The participants in the control group will be subjected only to thyroid status evaluation, and the results will be recorded. The participants will complete five visits before and after the start of the trial, and differences in the change in carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), maximum mean change in plaque burden, and changes in lipid profiles, bone mineral densities, and incidences of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events between the initial visit and the last follow-up visit will be evaluated via vascular ultrasound. DISCUSSION: We will explicitly address whether levothyroxine replacement therapy provides cardiovascular benefits for older adults with subclinical hypothyroidism. CLINICAL

trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov, No. ChiCTR2400092634. Registered on 30 November 2024. Recruitment for this study began on December 1, 2024, and continues until at least until November 30, 2025.

Indexed as

Cardiovascular DiseasesHypothyroidismThyroxineAgedAsymptomatic DiseasesCarotid Intima-Media ThicknessFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedMulticenter Studies as TopicRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicThyrotropinTreatment OutcomeThyrotropinThyroxine

Identifiers

PMID40375293
PMCPMC12083150

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.