Screening for hypothyroidism in elderly inpatients.
Routine biochemical screening for hypothyroidism in 2000 geriatric inpatients proved valuable and practicable and yielded 46 cases (2.3%). A non-specific clinical picture was particularly common, with less than a third of the cases showing "typical" signs and symptoms. Psychiatric manifestations, especially depression, were important and frequent and responded well to thyroxine. There was a preponderance of female cases of hypothyroidism and a strong association with other autoimmune diseases, notably pernicious anaemia and rheumatoid arthritis.
D000368:Aged; D000752:Anemia, Pernicious / Q000209:etiology; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology; D003638:Deafness / Q000209:etiology; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000473:pathology