Change of thyroid hormone level with aging in elderly patients / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the change rule of serum thyroid hormone level in senile patients. Methods Totally 2433 elderly patients in our hospital during January to August 2011 were divided into three groups by ageadult group aged(46.0± 10.8)years(n=1030),elderly group aged (69.5±6.3)years (n=848) and advanced age group aged (83.9±3.8)years (n=555).The levels of serum free triodothyronine (FT3),free thyroxine (FT4),thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were determined by chemistry luminescence technique. Results The levels of serum FT3 [(4.33 ± 1.22)pmol/L,(3.96 ± 0.89) pmol/L vs.(5.08 ± 2.99) pmol/L,t=7.075,8.799,both P=0.000] and FT4 [(18.32±5.81)pmol/L,(18.58±6.71)pmol/L vs.(19.87±10.97) pmol/L,t=3.732,2.709,both P=0.000] were lower in the elderly and advanced age than in adult.The levels of serum TSH were higher in the elderly than in adult (P=0.002),while no difference was found between advanced age and adult (P=0.134)[(5.51± 17.39) mU/L in the elderly,(3.33±5.65) mU/L in adults vs.(4.53±14.37)mU/L in advanced age].There were no significant differences in the levels of serum FT3,FT4 and TSH between advanced age and the elderly (all P＞0.05).The detection rate of the decreased FT3,FT4 and TSH in elderly and advanced age were (13.3％ vs.25.8％),(2.9％vs.1.8％),(6.8％vs.12.3％),while the detection rate of increment were (3.1 ％vs.0.1％),(8.6％vs.9.9％),(18.0％vs.15.7％),respectively.The rates of declined FT3 and TSH were obviously higher in the advanced age than in the elderly (x2=39.96,15.83,all P =0.000),but the rates of declined FT4 and increased FT3 were lower in the advanced age than in the elderly (x2 =27.84,16.32,all P=0.000). Conclusions The abnormal detection rates of thyroid hormones are high in the elderly,thus due attention should be paid to thyroid function test for early diagnosis and treatment of senile thyroid disease.