Increased carotid arterial stiffness in subclinical hypothyroidism.
OBJECTIVE
Arterial stiffness is involved in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease, and subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is associated with increased risk of atherosclerosis. The present study was designed to examine whether SCH is associated with an increase in carotid arterial stiffness.


METHODS
The carotid arterial stiffness parameter in 93 patients with SCH and 90 sex- and age-matched euthyroid volunteers was evaluated using a color Doppler ultrasound machine implemented with a high-resolution echo-tracking system.


RESULTS
The participants with SCH had higher total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels than those who were euthyroid. Furthermore, carotid arterial stiffness β (β index) was significantly higher in SCH patients than in normal controls, and β index was significantly positively correlated with age, smoking index, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure, TSH and hsCRP and significantly negatively correlated with pulse rate in subclinical hypothyroid patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Subclinical hypothyroidism is associated with preclinical vascular alteration, characterized by increased carotid arterial stiffness values, which have been shown to be related to the hsCRP and TSH.
Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, People's Hospital of Gansu Province, 160 Dong Gang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, PR China.
Limin
L
Tian
Cuixia
C
Gao
Jing
J
Liu
Xuelan
X
Zhang
D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler