Thyroid dysfunction is frequent in psychiatric outpatients and the correction of their endocrine abnormalities seems to improve the response to psychopharmacologic treatment.
Aim:
To retrospectively explore the frequency of thyroidabnormalities in psychiatric autpatients. Material and
methods:
Clinical charts and thyroid assesment of 102 psychiatric patientsaged 40.8ñ15 years old (28 male) seen between April 1995 and 1996 were reviewed. Endocrine diagnosis was made according to international criteria and psychiatric diagnosis was made by a single psychiatryist following DSM IV criteria.
The desing of this study prevents to draw conclusions about prevalence of thyroid alterations in psychiatric patients. Nevertheless results support the need for routine thyroid assessment in this specific population