Thyroid function in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in comparison with chronic kidney disease


Thyroid function was evaluated in 14 Japanese patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) with end-stage renal disease compared with 11 chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 1+2 patients (glomerular filtration rate ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73m²).

The serum free triiodothyronine (fT₃) (2.2 ± 0.3 pg/mL, p < 0.05) levels were lower, and the rate of low triiodothyronine (T₃) syndrome was higher (4 of 13 cases, 30.8%) in the CAPD patients than in the CKD stage 1+2 patients (1 of 10 cases, 10.0%, respectively) or the 57 age-matched healthy controls. The serum thyroglobulin (Tg) levels were significantly higher in the CAPD patients (39.7 (13.4 - 178.0) ng/mL) than in the CKD stage 1+2 patients (9.9 (5.5 - 28.8) ng/mL, p < 0.05). High serum Tg levels (> 30 ng/mL) were observed in 66.7% of the CAPD patients.

The finding from our study suggested the deterioration of thyroid function with higher prevalence of low T₃ syndrome in the CAPD patients. Although speculation as to the reasons for this would be unwise at this point, we did note that the serum Tg levels were very high in the CAPD patients.
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