Hypothyroidism in Turner syndrome

Turner syndrome (TS) is characterized by an increased prevalence of hypothyroidism, the main etiology being autoimmunity. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of hypothyroidism in patients with Turner syndrome, to analyze the correlations with clinical, chromosomal, hormonal and metabolic features and to compare hypothyroid with euthyroid Turner subjects. We studied 28 patients with TS (mean age 24.68 +/- 9.59yr). 78.57% with 45,XO. 10.71% with 45,XO/46,XX and 10.71% with other karyotypes. Hypothyroidism was diagnosed in 10 patients (35.7%). TSH level was positively correlated with thyroid autoantibodies titer (p < 0.001), maternal age at conception (p< 0.01), the presence of spontaneous puberty (p < 0.05) and relative height (p < 0.05), and negatively correlated with FSH level (p < 0.001) which is an indicator of the estrogenic status, and was not correlated to karyotype. Hypothyroid Turner subjects had higher relative heights (p < 0.05) and lower FSH levels (p < 0.05) than euthyroid subjects, but cholesterol levels and BMI were not significantly different.