The state of serum lipids profiles in sub-clinical hypothyroidism: A review of the literature

Thyroid disorders usually associated with lipid abnormalities. Overt hypothyroidism is a state with thyroid hormone deficiency. Sub clinical hypothyroidism is defined as condition, in which thyroid stimulating hormone concentration elevated when serum thyroid hormones are at normal levels. Whether sub-clinical hypothyroidism associated with lipid alteration, it is the main concept behind this study. Although, in this study, we found cases with normal thyroxin and elevated thyroid stimulating hormone are common, but whether the sub-clinical hypothyroidism finally converted to overt hypothyroidism are not universally accepted. The findings also indicated subjects with sub-clinical hypothyroidism usually are accompanied with dyslipidemia and in general the total cholesterol level is higher among sub-clinical hypothyroid patients, with eventual risk of arthrosclerosis. This study indicated that there is not a common findings to support the benefit of thyroxin therapy in sub-clinical hypothyroidism. It is concluded that it seems sub-clinical hypothyroidism is a common thyroid abnormality which can be diagnosed by the medical diagnostic laboratory through thyroid function test and it is mainly accompanied with lipid disorder. © 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information