Hypothyroidism (primary).
BACKGROUND
Hypothyroidism is six times more common in women, affecting up to 40/10,000 each year (compared with 6/10,000 men).


METHODS
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of treatments for clinical (overt) hypothyroidism and for subclinical hypothyroidism? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to January 2007 (BMJ Clinical evidence reviews are updated periodically, please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).


RESULTS
We found 17 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: levothyroxine, and levothryoxine plus liothyronine.
Nygaard
Birte
B
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
D007037:Hypothyroidism; D014481:United States