Thyroid and Reference Ranges: Quality of Life, Mood, Cognitive Function in Older Men

[CoastWatcher]

It's axiomatic - when a new member joins the Excelmale community, and discussion turns to blood testing, the importance of thyroid tests is stressed. This paper raises some interesting points.


Variations in thyroid function within the laboratory reference range have been associated with a number of clinical outcomes. However, quality of life, mood, and cognitive function have not been extensively studied, and it is not clear whether mild variations in thyroid function have major effects on these neurocognitive outcomes.

• Data were analyzed from the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study, a cohort of community-dwelling men aged 65 years and older in the United States.
• A total of 539 participants who were not taking thyroid medications and had age-adjusted TSH levels within the reference range underwent detailed testing of quality of life, mood, and cognitive function at baseline.
• The same quality of life, mood, and cognitive outcomes were measured again in 193 of the men after a mean follow-up of 6 years. Outcomes were analyzed using thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels as continuous independent variables, adjusting for relevant covariates.
• At baseline, there were no associations between TSH or FT4 levels and measures of quality of life, mood, or cognition in the 539 euthyroid men.
• Baseline thyroid function did not predict changes in these outcomes over a mean of 6 years in the 193 men in the longitudinal analysis.

"Thyroid Function Variations Within the Reference Range Do Not Affect Quality of Life, Mood, or Cognitive Function in Community-Dwelling Older Men," Thyroid, 2016 September 1, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5036313/

 

[ratbag]

This is so old school. They make no reference to FT3 and only go by FT4 making the old assumption that everyone converts perfectly. Another useless study.

 

[Vince Carter]

I agree no mention of the hormone that matters the most, FT3.