A study on incidence of subclinical hypothyriodism in patients with heart failure

Objectives: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is a common disorder that is characterized by elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone levels in conjunction with free thyroxine concentrations within the normal reference range. Thyroid hormones are known to affect the heart and vasculature and, as a result, the impact of SCH on heart failure. Strong evidence points to a link between SCH and HF risk factors such as alterations in blood pressure, lipid levels, and atherosclerosis. Additionally, accumulating evidence indicates that SCH is associated with metabolic syndrome and heart failure. The present review proposes that SCH may be a potentially modifiable risk factor of heart failure and mortality. Methods: This is an observational study to determine the incidence of subclinical hypothyroidism in patients with heart failure and the cardiovascular risk profile among patients in a 750 bedded tertiary health care centre in south India, over a period from June 2018 to November 2018. Results: In our present study it was noticed that most of the patients were in the age group above 51-60 yrs (45.45 %). Our study data suggest that subclinical hypothyroidism with a TSH ≥10.0 mIU/L represents a potentially modifiable risk factor for HF in older adults but not subclinical hypothyroidism with moderate TSH levels (TSH 4.5 to 9.9 mIU/L) and subclinical hyperthyroidism. Conclusion: Subclinical hypothyroidism are more prone to associated with heart failure as an asymptomatic which is essential to be identified and treated for a better outcome as its association is proven statistically in our study