Association of thyroid function with arterial pressure in normotensive and hypertensive euthyroid individuals: a cross-sectional study


Overt hypothyroidism has been associated with arterial hypertension and increased arterial stiffness. Results in euthyroid individuals have been conflicting.

We investigated associations of thyroid function with systolic (SAP) and diastolic (DAP) arterial pressure in euthyroid subjects.

Methods: 311 euthyroid individuals (185 women, mean age 43.9+/-9) without a history of diabetes attending a preventive medicine program were examined.

Subjects receiving thyroxine (10.6%) were excluded; 19.3% had hypertension, 43% had a family history for hypertension. TSH, fT4, thyroid autoantibodies, insulin, glucose were measured.

The "fT4.TSH product", which has been suggested as a T4 resistance-index, was calculated.

Results: TSH range was 0.1-8, median 1.4 mU/L, fT4 range was 11.5-25.2 pmol/L, median 17.4.

TSH and the "fT4.TSH product" were positively associated with DAP (p<0.03, for both associations). In the subgroup of individuals with TSH levels 0.36- 2.5 mU/L, both TSH and the "fT4.TSH product" were positively correlated with SAP (r=+0.133 p=0.044, r=+0.152 p=0.026) and DAP (r=+0.243 p<0.001, r=+0.252 p<0.001 respectively); in multivariate analysis the "fT4.TSH product" was a significant predictor of DAP independently of HOMA-IR and BMI (p<0.001).

Similar associations were found when only the non-hypertensive subjects were analysed (p=0.004). Hypertensive patients had higher TSH levels (p=0.02) and belonged more frequently to the subgroup with TSH >2mU/L (35.3% vs 21.3%, p=0.045).

Conclusions: In euthyroid individuals the association of thyroid function with diastolic arterial pressure remains significant even when a stricter "normal range" for TSH levels is considered. The "freeT4.TSH" product appears to be an even stronger predictor of DAP, independently of HOMA insulin resistance index and obesity.



Author: Katerina Saltiki, Paraskevi Voidonikola, Kimon Stamatelopoulos, Emily Mantzou, Christos Papamichael and Maria Alevizaki
Credits/Source: Thyroid Research 2008, 1:3



Published on: 2008-09-29

Limited copyright is granted for you to use and/or republish any story on this site for any legitimate media purpose as long as you reference 7thSpace and any source mentioned in the story above. Please make sure to read our disclaimer prior to contacting 7thSpace Interactive. To contact our editors, visit our online helpdesk. If you wish submit your own press release, click here.

Social Bookmarking
Digg this! | Post to del.icio.us | Post to Furl | Add to Netscape | Add to Yahoo! | Rojo



Comments Page 0 of 0
There are currently 0 comments to display.

 


+ Add New Comment


Custom Search

Username
Password





© 2008 7thSpace Interactive
All Rights Reserved - About | Disclaimer | Helpdesk
There are currently 23415 people browsing 7thSpace