Relationship between thyroid-stimulating hormone and blood pressure in the middle-aged and elderly population

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>Hypothyroidism and subclinical hypothyroidism may be associated with hypertension and metabolic syndrome. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and blood pressure, as well as the relationship between thyroid function and insulin resistance in middle-aged and elderly Chinese.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This was a cross-sectional, community-based study. Serum TSH, fasting glucose and insulin were measured in 2,988 subjects aged 35-80 years. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the risk factors for hypertension. Analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to characterise the relationship among TSH, insulin resistance and blood pressure.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Higher serum TSH concentration was found to be an independent risk factor for hypertension in females (odds ratio 1.4, 95% confidence interval 1.02-1.93; p-value = 0.039). The female group with subclinical hypothyroidism and high normal TSH (2.5-4.8 mIU/L) were more susceptible to high blood pressure than those with low normal TSH (0.3-2.5 mIU/L) (p-value < 0.05). After adjustment for waist-hip ratio and body mass index, neither the correlation between blood pressure and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) nor the correlation between TSH and HOMA-IR were found to be significant in this study.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>This study provides evidence that both subclinical hypothyroidism and high normal TSH are independent risk factors for hypertension in middle-aged and elderly Chinese women.</p>

Genetic determination of fast plasma glucose concentration and correlation with anthropometric indices / 中华医学遗传学杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the genetic determination of fast plasma glucose (FPG) and correlation with its potential correlated traits, anthropometric measures and blood pressure.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Two hundred and eighteen Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) pedigrees composed of 1383 Chinese Han individuals residing in the East and South-East China were analyzed. Univariate variance decomposition analyses were used to estimate the narrow-sense heritability (h(2)) of FPG, anthropometric indices and blood pressure, and bivariate quantitative genetic analyses were used to estimate the genetic and environmental correlations between FPG and anthropometric measures or blood pressure.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>We found that FPG, blood pressure and all anthropometric indices except for waist to hip ratio were under significant genetic determination, and the h(2) was from 0.28 to 0.43. We did not find significant genetic and environmental correlation between FPG and anthropometric indices and blood pressure.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The present study demonstrated that T2DM, obesity and hypertension were controlled by some genetic factors, and FPG shares little common genetic and environmental factors with obesity-related anthropometric indices and blood pressure in our Chinese sample population.</p>