Serum Levels of Thyroid Hormones and Thyrotropin in Some Sickle Cell Anaemia Patients in Lagos

Previous studies have shown that the rate of erythropoiesis is increased in sickle cell anaemia patients and that erythropoietin, which stimulates this process, is influenced by the thyroid hormone. This study was therefore designed in order to elucidate levels of the thyroid hormones in some patients with sickle cell anaemia attending a Lagos based Clinic. The serum levels of the thyroid hormones (T4 and T3) and thyrotropin (TSH) were measured by radio-immunoassay (RIA) in the steady state of 10 homozygous sickle cell anaemia patients and 10 normal subjects of the same age group in years (15-25) who were the control group. The results showed that sickle cell disease resulted in a decrease in serum triiodothyronine (T3) from 1.68 ± 0.14 ng/ml in the control to 1.22 ± 0.18ng/ml in sickle cell disease. This was however, not significant (P= 0.059). The serum thyroxine (T4) level was also slightly lower in the sickle cell anaemia patients (84.8 ± 4.70 ng/ml as compared with 95.8 ± 5.20ng/ml in the control subjects (P = 0.134). However, the serum TSH was significantly higher (P = 0.015) in the sickle cell anaemia patients with a value of 3.90± 0.32 µIU/ml when compared with that of the control which was 2.68 ± 0.32 µIU/ml. The results indicate that although there was an increase in TSH, the thyroid gland was unresponsive to its effect thus the thyroid function remained unchanged in sickle cell anaemia. Nig. Qt. J. Hosp. Med. Vol.12(1-4) 2002: 26-2