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Lee, Jeong, Lee, Lee, Lee, Lee, and Kim: Alteration of Lipid Profiles in Patients with Subclinical Hypothyroidism
Original Article

J Lipid Atheroscler 2017;6(2):84-88.

Published online: 31 December 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12997/jla.2017.6.2.84

Alteration of Lipid Profiles in Patients with Subclinical Hypothyroidism

Jung Eun Lee, Su Jin Jeong, Sol Jae Lee, Young Hoon Lee, Yuchang Lee, Sook Jung Lee, Chong Hwa Kim

Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Sejong General Hospital, Bucheon, Korea

Corresponding Author: Chong Hwa Kim, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, Sejong General Hospital, 28 Hohyeon-ro 489 Beon-gil, Sosa-gu, Bucheon 422-711, Korea Tel: +82-32-340-1116, Fax: +82-32-340-1236, E-mail: drangelkr@hanmail.net

Received 31 May 2017       Revised 24 October 2017       Accepted 6 November 2017

Copyright © 2017 Korean Society of Lipidology and Atherosclerosis

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objective

Overt hypothyroidism has been associated with abnormalities of lipid metabolism; however conflicting results regarding the degree of lipid changes in subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) have been reported. The aim of this study was to assess differences in lipid profile parameters between people with and without SCH in Korean population.

Methods

Serum lipid parameters of 37 patients with SCH and 44 euthyroid control subjects were evaluated in a retrospective cross-sectional study.

Results

The mean serum triglycerides (TG) level was significantly higher in patients with SCH than in controls (p<0.05). The mean serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level was significantly lower in patients with SCH than in controls (p<0.05). When adjusted by age, the odds ratio for the association of HDL-C with SCH was significant at 0.893 (95% confidence interval 0.809–0.986) compared with that of the euthyroid controls. No association with SCH was found with total cholesterol level, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level or serum thyroid-stimulating hormone level. In addition, the lipid profile did not differ significantly between premenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Conclusion

We found variations of lipid profiles in patients with SCH, characterized by a significantly lower HDL-C level.

Keywords: Subclinical hypothyroidism, Lipid

REFERENCES

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Table 1.
Baseline characteristics in subclinical hypothyroid patients and euthyroid controls
Parameters Subclinical hypothyroid patients Euthyroid controls p value
Age (year) 58.08±13.06 47.05±9.52 <0.001
Sex
 Female (%) 51% 34% -
 Male (%) 49% 66%
BMI (kg/m2) 23.5±3.9 23.8±2.8 0.731
TSH (uIU/mL) 8.68±3.45 1.75±0.67 <0.001
Total T3 (pg/mL) 1.02±0.21 1.18±0.21 0.001
Free T4 (ng/dL) 1.15±0.20 1.34±0.14 <0.001
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 182.3±45.8 186.4±29.9 0.625
Triglycerides (mg/dL) 158.6±98.7 107.9±69.3 0.008
HDL-C (mg/dL) 49.1±15.1 61.4±15.3 0.001
LDL-C (mg/dL) 113.6±37.8 114.8±28.8 0.869
Thyroglobulin Ab 34.2%
Anti-microsomal Ab 36.8%
Apolipoprotein A-I (mg/dL, n=21) 148.3±5.6
Apolipoprotein B (mg/dL, n=21) 94.2±5.9
Apolipoprotein A/B ratio 3.997±10.37

Values are expressed as mean±standard deviation or number (%).

BMI; body mass index, TSH; thyroid-stimulating hormone, HDL-C; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C; lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol, Ab; antibody.

p values were obtainded by Student's t-test.

Table 2.
The age-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) for lipid profiles in subclinical hypothyroid patients against euthyroid controls by regression analysis
Parameters Euthyroid controls Subclinical hypothyroid patients p value
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 1 1.080 (0.980-1.190) 0.121
Triglycerides (mg/dL) 1 0.997 (0.985-1.010) 0.683
HDL-C (mg/dL) 1 0.893 (0.809-0.986) 0.026
LDL-C (mg/dL) 1 0.925 (0.836-1.024) 0.132

HDL-C; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol

p values were obtainded by logistic regression analysis.

Negelkerke R Squre. 0.435

Table 3.
Distribution of lipid profile and thyroid hormone according to menopausal status
Parameters Premenopausal women
Euthyroid controls (n=4) Subclinical hypothyroid (n=15) p value
TSH (μIU/mL) 1.05 (0.85-1.25) 7.80 (5.40-9.20) 0.001
Total T3 (pg/mL) 1.50 (1.25-1.60) 1.00 (0.90-1.20) 0.530
Free T4 (ng/dL) 1.00 (0.93-1.23) 1.00 (0.80-1.20) 0.270
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 167.0 (109.8-209.3) 197.0 (181.0-214.0) 0.357
Triglycerides (mg/dL) 79.0 (49.3-144.8) 140.0 (109.0-193.0) 0.124
HDL-C (mg/dL) 69.0 (55.5-77.3) 52.0 (46.0-63.0) 0.808
LDL-C (mg/dL) 94.5 (40.3-130.8) 123.0 (99.0-133.0) 0.307
Parameters Postmenopausal women
Euthyroid controls (n=11) Subclinical hypothyroid (n=4) p value
TSH (μIU/mL) 2.00 (1.60-2.60) 7.65 (6.56-13.28) 0.001
Free T4 (ng/dL) 1.30 (1.20-1.50) 1.20 (0.95-1.30) 0.280
Total T3 (pg/mL) 1.10 (1.10-1.40) 1.25 (0.90-1.45) 0.949
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 186.0 (171.0-220.0) 210.5 (153.8-224.5) 0.753
Triglycerides (mg/dL) 73.0 (53.0-109.0) 124.0 (74.8-270.0) 0.078
HDL-C (mg/dL) 57.0 (51.0-84.0) 59.0 (40.5-81.3) 0.661
LDL-C (mg/dL) 113.0 (100.0-143.0) 133.5 (88.3-148.0) 0.851
Parameters Premenopausal (n=19) Postmenopausal (n=15) p value
TSH (μIU/mL) 6.90 (5.10-8.70) 2.50 (1.80-6.30) 0.089
Free T4 (ng/dL) 1.10 (0.90-1.40) 1.30 (1.10-1.40) 0.302
Total T3 (pg/mL) 1.00 (0.90-1.20) 1.20 (1.10-1.40) 0.011
Total cholesterol (mg/dL) 195.0 (171.0-214.0) 199.0 (171.0-220.0) 0.758
Triglycerides (mg/dL) 132.0 (76.0-188.0) 87.0 (57.00-113.0) 0.071
HDL-C (mg/dL) 57.0 (50.0-67.0) 57.0 (49.0-84.0) 0.560
LDL-C (mg/dL) 118.0 (99.0-133.0) 117.0 (110.0-143.0) 0.656

Values are expressed as median (interquartile range)

TSH; thyroid-stimulating hormone, HDL-C; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol

p values were obtainded by Mann-whitney.

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