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(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.
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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 patients 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.
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SOURCE: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 2008;published online June 11
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