Incidence of amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction and predictive factors for their occurrence

Amiodarone treatment is associated with the occurrence of thyroid dysfunction. The aim was to determine the incidence of amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunctions and the influence of gender, age, treatment duration, goiter, thyroid antibodies, thyroid echogenicity and family history on their appearance. Of 248 consecutive patients, 144 males and 104 females, referred to thyroid status screening, 16% were with clinical dysfunction, 21% with sub-clinical dysfunction and 63% were euthyroid. The presence of goiter and thyroid peroxidase antibodies were the significant individual predictive factors for the occurrence of clinical dysfunction, and in the multivariate regression model, the presence of goiter was a significant predictive factor with the prognostic value of 80%. For sub-clinical dysfunction, the significant individual predictive factors were female gender and the presence of goiter, as well as in the multivariate regression model, with the prognostic value of 74.5% for female gender and 77.5 % for the presence of goiter. It is necessary to check the thyroid status both before and during amiodarone treatment. Administration of other anti-arrhythmic drugs and/or more frequent check-ups of the thyroid status should be taken into consideration in patients at higher risk, i.e. women with positive thyroid peroxidase antibodies and goiter.