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Thyroid Problems Common in CKD Patients
Reported June 16, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may
be at risk for hypothyroidism and problems that come with it.
Subclinical hypothyroidism takes place when blood tests reveal a reduction
in thyroid hormone levels, but the patient shows no symptoms of the problem.
Researchers at the University of Colorado and the University of Verona,
Italy, looked at blood test results for more than 3,000 CKD patients.
Results show 9.6 percent of patients with CKD had low thyroid function. In
addition, researchers found the lower the patient’s kidney function was, the
higher their risk was of having this type of hypothyroidism. Patients with
moderate CKD were 73 percent more likely to have the condition.
Researchers have yet to determine the relationship between subclinical
hypothyroidism and CKD, but they do know it puts CKD patients at a higher
risk for other health problems.
“Although no recommendations are available regarding the treatment of mild
abnormalities of thyroid hormone levels in patients with CKD not requiring
dialysis, these abnormalities could represent a risk factor for
cardiovascular disease and might also be implicated in kidney disease
progression,” lead authors Michel Chonchol, M.D., of the University of
Colorado Health Sciences Center and Giovanni Targher, M.D., of the
University of Verona, Italy, were quoted as saying.
SOURCE: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology,
2008;published online June 11 |
