Mild subclinical hypothyroidism can be safely left untreated if patients are asymptomatic, a study shows.
The meta-analysis of over 50,000 patients found that those with thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels of less than 7mlU/L were not at an increased risk of cardiovascular events or mortality, whereas those with levels above this range were.
The researchers said this finding was important because many patients with minimal TSH elevations were currently treated in clinical practice.
“Our results might help refine a TSH threshold at which larger clinical benefits of thyroxine replacement could be expected,” they wrote in JAMA.
Compared with patients with euthyroidism, patients with subclinical hypothyroidism, (defined by a TSH level between 4.5 and 19.9 mlU/L) had an 18% increased risk...
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