title: Cardiovascular risk factors in middle-aged women with subclinical hypothyroidism.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Overt hypothyroidism (OH) is associated with premature atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease (CHD). Recently, C-reactive protein (CRP) and total homocysteine (tHct) emerged as additional independent cardiovascular risk factors. Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH), affecting as many as 15% of middle-aged women is not known to be associated with risk for CHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We measured CRP and tHct levels as well as conventional cardiovascular risk markers in 44 middle-aged women with newly diagnose SH. Results were compared with those obtained in 10 patients with OH and 19 euthyroid controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In SH, tHct and CRP levels were not as augmented as compared to controls. Their mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were increased vs. controls (p<0.04;p<0.01, respectively). Mean values of total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), triglycerides, TC/HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C were not different in patients with SH compared to controls. Individual analysis revealed that the percentage of patients with SH having hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, elevated TC/HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C ratios were higher than the percentage in controls. CRP positively correlated with BMI(r=0.29,p<0.02), and tHct positively correlated with age (r=0.24, p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that subclinical hypothyroidism in middle-aged women is associated with hypertension and dyslipidemia. CRP and tHct do not appear to contribute to the increased risk for CHD in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Endocrine Institute, Haemek Medical center, Afula, Israel. Luboshitzky_r@clalit.org.il
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Luboshitzky
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Herer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006949:Hyperlipidemias / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013261:Sterols / Q000097:blood; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D013261:Sterols; D014280:Triglycerides; D006710:Homocysteine; D002097:C-Reactive Protein