Thyroid Activity Linked to Heart Disease in Women

A new study by researchers at Trondheim University Hospital in Norway has found that women who have a slightly underactive thyroid are at an increased risk of death due to heart attacks and other types of heart disease. The study has been reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

There is an emerging body of evidence that suggests the thyroid gland might be associated with heart problems and a drop in the functioning of this gland might lead to an increase in blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The research team led by Dr. Bjorn O. Asvold studied 17,311 women and 8002 men over the age of 40 as part of the Nord-Trondelag Health Study to find this connection.

All participants were free of heart disease, thyroid disease and diabetes when the study began in 1995. Over the next two years, the researchers measured the levels of thyrotropin, a hormone that gauges thyroid function for all participants.

The volunteers were then followed for a period of nine years through to 2004. During this period, 192 women and 164 men died of heart disease. All of these had normal thyroid function, i.e. none of these patients showed any signs or symptoms of either an underactive or an overactive thyroid gland.

Further analysis revealed that even among subjects with normal thyroid functioning, women who had the least active glands had a 69 percent higher risk of dying due to heart disease than those with comparatively more active glands. Men on the other hand were found to be free from such association and risks.

“To our knowledge, no clinical trial has tested whether (treatment with thyroid hormone) could protect against heart disease,” the authors said. On the other hand, treatment with thyroid hormone is known to reduce high blood pressure, cholesterol levels as well as body weight, they added.

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