Clinical Endocrinology
Clinical Endocrinology
4 years ago

Subclinical hypothyroidism and risk of cerebral small vessel disease: A hospital-based observational study

Zhixiang Ling, Yujia Zhu, Yuankai Lin, Dan Hu, Caixia Ding, Yi Xie, Chuanyou Li, Jing Xiao, Xuemei Jiang, Lei Sheng, Gelin Xu, Yinyan Tang, Hua Shan, Xiaohao Zhang
Objective Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) has been associated with atherosclerosis and increased risk of ischaemic stroke. However, whether SCH is associated with cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) remains largely unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between SCH and total cSVD burden, a composite measurement detected with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in patients with minor ischaemic stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Design This was a prospective observational cohort study conducted in a tertiary referral hospital. Methods Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) was defined as with mildly or moderately increased thyroid-stimulating hormone levels (TSH, 4.5-10.0 mIU/L), but with normal free thyroxine levels. Brain MRI presence of silent lacunar infarcts (LIs), white matter lesions (WMLs), cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) and enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVs) were summed to a validated scales ranging from 0 to 4 to represent the load of cSVD. The associations between SCH and cSVD were analysed by logistic regression analyses. Results Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) was identified in 43 of 229 (18.8%) patients with minor stroke or TIA. Compared with patients without SCH, those with SCH had higher risks of WMLs, CMBs and total cSVD burden. Adjustment of potential confounders did not change these associations. Conclusions These findings showed that SCH might be associated with the presence of WMLs, CMBs, as well as cSVD burden in patients with minor stroke or TIA.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1111/cen.13383

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.