Prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in obese children or adolescents and association between thyroid hormone and the components of metabolic syndrome.
AIM
Subclinical hypothyroidism is defined as elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels with the normal concentrations of thyroxine (T4) or free thyroxine (fT4), and its clinical significance is unclear. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in children and adolescents and determine the relationship between lipid profiles, insulin resistance and thyroid hormones.


METHODS
A retrospective, cross-sectional study was performed using data from a subset of the KNHANES VI. The subjects whose ages were in the range of 10-19 years were enrolled when their thyroid function tests were available (n = 1104), and their laboratory and anthropometric data were analysed.


RESULTS
Subclinical hypothyroidism was more commonly identified in the obese group (27 of 111) compared to the other groups (127 of 993) (24.3 vs. 12.8%, P = 0.002). Total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were higher in a group with subclinical hypothyroidism. Body mass index (BMI) was positively correlated with serum concentrations of the TSH and negatively correlated with serum concentrations of fT4 after adjusting for age. The concentrations of total cholesterol and triglyceride were positively correlated with the TSH concentrations following adjustment for age and BMI standard deviation scores. The fT4 concentrations were negatively linked with total cholesterol after adjusting for age and BMI standard deviation scores. No significant correlation was found between insulin resistance index and TSH and fT4.


CONCLUSIONS
Subclinical hypothyroidism was common in the obese group, and the concentrations of TSH were linked with the lipid profile. Subclinical hypothyroidism in obese children or adolescents should be closely monitored while also evaluating metabolic risk factors.
['Jin|Hye Young|HY|0000-0003-1433-3394']
D000293:Adolescent D002648:Child D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007037:Hypothyroidism D008297:Male D024821:Metabolic Syndrome D009765:Obesity D012189:Retrospective Studies D013963:Thyroid Hormones D055815:Young Adult
subclinical hypothyroidism thyroid-stimulating hormone total cholesterol triglyceride body mass index