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Thyroid hormones and depression: the Health in Men study
Osvaldo P Almeida1, Helman Alfonso, Leon Flicker
1WA Centre for Health & Ageing, Centre for Medical Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA. osvaldo.almeida@uwa.edu.au
Subclinical thyroid disease does not appear to be linked to depression in older men. Routine screening for thyroid dysfunction in this population is not supported by these findings.
Area of Science:
- Geriatric Medicine
- Endocrinology
- Psychiatry
Background:
- Current guidelines recommend thyroid function tests for adults with depression.
- However, supporting data is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between thyroid dysfunction markers and depression in older men.
- To determine if subclinical thyroid disease predicts prevalent or incident depression.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional and cohort study design.
- Included 3,932 community-dwelling men aged 69-87, without overt thyroid disease.
- Assessed depression using the Geriatric Depression Scale and ICD codes.
Main Results:
- Thyroid-stimulating hormone and free thyroxine levels did not correlate with depression.
- Subclinical hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism showed no significant association with prevalent or incident depression.
- No subclinical hyperthyroidism cases developed depression during follow-up.
Conclusions:
- Subclinical thyroid disease is not associated with depression in older men.
- Findings do not support routine screening for subclinical thyroid dysfunction in older adults with depression.
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