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Kongress Medizin und Gesellschaft 2007

17. bis 21.09.2007, Augsburg

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Association of thyroid function with carotid artery plaque burden and stroke in a population-based sample

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  • Marcus Dörr - Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität, Greifswald
  • Stephan B Felix - Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität, Greifswald
  • Henry Völzke - Ernst-Moritz-Arndt Universität, Greifswald

Kongress Medizin und Gesellschaft 2007. Augsburg, 17.-21.09.2007. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2007. Doc07gmds502

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/gmds2007/07gmds502.shtml

Published: September 6, 2007

© 2007 Dörr et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Background: Thyroid dysfunction is associated with detrimental cardiovascular effects. We analyzed whether thyroid status is related to carotid artery plaques and prevalent stroke.

Methods: Data from 2395 subjects (1217 men and 1178 women) aged ≥ 45 years participating in the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP) were analyzed. The presence of carotid plaques was assessed by B-mode ultrasound and prevalent stroke was assessed by interview. The sample was divided according to quintiles of serum TSH levels into a low (1st quintile; ≤0.33 mIU/L]), a medium (2nd to 4th quintile; 0.34–0.99 mIU/L), and a high (5th quintile; ≥1.00 mIU/L) TSH group. Logistic regression models were adjusted for common confounders including age, sex, BMI, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking, school education, plasma fibrinogen and serum cholesterol levels, and statins.

Results: The prevalence of carotid plaque at any site was higher in subjects with low TSH (78.0%) and in those with high TSH (74.4%) as compared to medium TSH (68.2%, p<0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed an increased odds for carotid plaques in subjects with low TSH (odds ratio (OR) 1.80; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.30–2.48, p<0.001) and with high TSH (OR 1.55; 95% CI 1.14–2.10, p<0.01) as compared to those with medium TSH. With respect to stroke there were no

differences among the TSH groups.

Conclusions: There was an association between thyroid function and carotid artery plaque with an increased odds ratio for carotid plaques in subjects with low and high TSH levels. This may reflect an increased atherosclerotic state in affected individuals.