ABSTRACT
The incidence and pattern of thyroid disease vary from place to place and among the races. The alterations in thyroid function test findings may reflect changes in production of thyroid hormone by effects on the gland itself, on the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis, peripheral tissue metabolism of the hormone or a combination of these effects. Biochemical evaluation of the thyroid gland was done using both the 'gold standard1 and other function tests. Thus we determined the serum levels of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone [TSH], Free T4 [FT4] and T3 [FT3] in 124 patients with thyroid disease, with the aim to determine the biochemical pattern of endocrinopathy. The hormonal pattern in 55 [44.4%] of the patients was characteristic of euthyroid, while 69 [56.4%] of the patients had various hyper or hypo-hormonal pattern based on TSH evaluation. The hyper function hormonal abnormality was characteristic of Grave's disease in 27.5%, while 36.3% had pattern consistent with nodular goitre. The hypo-function consistent with primary hypothyroidism pattern was noted in 15.9% while the secondary hypothyroidism was observed in only 5.8%. There is the overlapping and adapting complex changes seen in 14.5% which is the hormonal pattern consistent with the intermediate region of thyroid function spectrum. These results underline the continued importance of biochemical evaluation of functional status of thyroid gland in thyroid disease, especially when evaluating patients from the middle belt endemic goitre zone in Nigeria. This is because the aetiologies in half of the thyroid disease were purely endocrine