Link between pericardial effusion and attenuation of QRS voltage in patients with hypothyroidism.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the clinical correlates of pericardial effusion (PE) and a low-voltage electrocardiogram (ECG) in patients with primary hypothyroidism.


METHODS
ECG, echocardiography and blood tests, including thyroid function tests, were performed in 64 consecutive patients with primary hypothyroidism.


RESULTS
Twenty-four patients (38%) had PE and 16 patients (25%) had low voltage. To determine the important variables present in patients with hypothyroidism that may be related to PE, 3 variables (free T4, pulmonary artery systolic pressure and serum albumin) were used in the multivariate analysis. From the analysis, free T4 (odds ratio = 0.032) and pulmonary artery systolic pressure (odds ratio = 1.085) emerged as significant variables related to PE, whereas when 4 variables (free T4, serum albumin, pulmonary artery systolic pressure and PE) were used to determine the important variables related to low voltage, free T4 (odds ratio = 0.029) and serum albumin (odds ratio = 0.255) were the significant variables, but PE had no significant relation with low voltage (p = 0.424).


CONCLUSIONS
In addition to its association with more severe thyroid hormone deficiency, the presence of PE was also associated with an increase in pulmonary artery pressure, whereas attenuation of QRS voltage was associated with lower colloid osmotic pressure in patients with hypothyroidism.
Yamanaka
Shigeo
S
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kochi Medical School, Nankoku, Japan.
Kumon
Yoshitaka
Y
Matsumura
Yoshihisa
Y
Kamioka
Mikio
M
Takeuchi
Hiroaki
H
Sugiura
Tetsuro
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004452:Echocardiography; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009997:Osmotic Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D010490:Pericardial Effusion / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011669:Pulmonary Wedge Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood; D014883:Water-Electrolyte Imbalance / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology
D012709:Serum Albumin; D013974:Thyroxine