Jayanthi N1, Syed Sultan K. S2, Shankar R3
BACKGROUND
Hypothyroidism is characterised by a low cardiac output due to the decreased heart rate and stroke volume. Systolic and diastolic functions are reduced at rest and during exercise, thus impairing quality of life. In particular, an increased risk of coronary heart disease events and mortality has been reported in young patients affected by subclinical hypothyroidism with TSH >10 mU/L.
The aim of the study is to evaluate the cardiovascular system using electrocardiogram and echocardiogram among patients with clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted for a period of one year on 50 patients attending the Outpatient Medicine Department in our hospital. The 50 patients were made into 2 groups of 25 each, group I are patients with clinical hypothyroidism and group II are patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. The cardiac status of all the patients was assessed by doing ECG and a 2D echo was done to assess their systolic and diastolic function.
RESULTS
The systolic function was normal in both the groups except for a slight increase in the septal wall and posterior wall thickness of LV among the clinical hypothyroidism patients. There is no statistical significant difference in the diastolic parameters among the two groups (p >0.05), but it proves that there is a diastolic dysfunction, which would be in the starting stage in both the groups. Among the hypothyroid patients, 20% of them had mild pericardial effusion, which was detected through 2D echo, whereas none of the patients with subclinical hypothyroidism had pericardial effusion and this difference was found to be statistically significant (p <0.05).
CONCLUSION
Doppler echocardiography technique being a simple, reliable and reproducible method for assessment of heart functions has to be routinely done in patients with clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism to detect diastolic dysfunction at an early stage and manage them appropriately in such a way preventing morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular system.
